Construction Material Price Tracker

Live-ish prices for the commodities that drive your material costs — copper, aluminum, steel, and diesel — with 30-day and year-over-year change, a simple outlook, and a translation into the trade units you actually buy. Sourced from free government data (FRED).

CopperELEC
$13,484
$/metric ton
30-day
+4.6%
YoY
+41.5%
Outlook: Rising
AluminumELEC
$3,654
$/metric ton
30-day
+1.7%
YoY
+49.3%
Outlook: Rising
Steel (PPI Index)STRUCT
357.1
index
30-day
+1.4%
YoY
+7.0%
Outlook: Rising
DieselGEN
$4.83
$/gallon
30-day
-13.7%
YoY
+35.3%
Outlook: Falling

Price History & Outlook

Solid = stored history · dashed = trend outlook (not a guarantee)

$15,907$11,924$7,941Jul '23Feb '24Sep '24Apr '25Nov '25May '26OUTLOOK+6mo

Copper · $/metric ton · source: IMF via FRED · latest 2026-05-01

What this means on the job

Raw commodity prices translated into the trade units you buy. These are rough estimates from configurable conversion factors — directional, not quotes.

ELECEST
$230
#12 THHN copper wire
per 1,000 ft
Est. from copper content × fabrication factor
MECHEST
$2.79
1/2" Type-L copper tube
per ft
Est. from copper content × fabrication factor
STRUCTEST
$14.07
#4 rebar (1/2")
per 20-ft stick
Est. — steel is an index; scaled from an anchor price
GENEST
$193
Excavator fuel
per machine-day
Est. ~40 gal/day for a mid-size excavator

Data & forecast notes

  • Sources: prices are sourced from the Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) API — copper & aluminum (IMF), diesel (EIA), and the iron & steel Producer Price Index (BLS). Metals and the steel index are monthly with a 1–2 month publication lag; diesel is weekly.
  • Steel is an index, not a dollar price — it shows the relative trend of producer steel prices, not a $/ton figure.
  • The outlook is an extrapolation, not a guarantee — a simple trend projection from recent history, for planning context only.
  • Trade-unit costs are estimates from approximate conversion factors (metal content, fabrication, anchors). Verify against real quotes before relying on them.
  • This page is informational and not financial or purchasing advice.

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