SORIVO · Buying Note · Cable Commercial Terms · 2026-09

How to Audit a Cable Quote: The Copper Formula per Metre — And What the Extra Cross-Section Actually Buys

We do not publish a static price list, and this page will not pretend to be one. What we do publish is the arithmetic that lets you audit any cable quote you receive this month — including ours — line by line, plus the seven columns a quote has to carry before its numbers mean anything.

Published 2026-09-03Updated 2026-09-03Reading ~10 minLevel: Commercial / RFQ
Direct answer

Before you compare two quotes, compute the metal. Copper mass per metre is the cross-section times the density of copper: a 4 mm² conductor is 4 cm³ per metre, about 35.6 g/m. At an LME anchor of US$13,500/t — the figure we used in our 2026 solar price guide — that is $0.48 per metre of copper in a 4 mm² cable, $0.72 at 6 mm², $1.20 at 10 mm², and $8.40 per metre in each 70 mm² core of an armoured LV cable. Tinning adds roughly 8 % to the conductor.

That single line of arithmetic does three jobs: it tells you the floor a genuine cable cannot be sold below, it tells you how much of any quote is actually metal (we publish our own cost model in section 03: raw copper 55–65 % of finished cost), and it tells you what a $500/t move in the LME does to your price — about $0.018/m on 4 mm², $0.045/m on 10 mm². Everything else on a quotation sheet is insulation compound, labour, testing, freight, margin, and duty.

01Why there is no downloadable price list on this page

Two honest reasons. First, a cable price is a copper price with a specification attached, and the copper leg moves monthly — a list dated March is wrong by June. Second, a per-metre number without its conditions is not information, it is ammunition for the wrong decision. $0.72/m means one thing for a tinned Class 5 conductor certified to EN 50618 across every cross-section, and something else entirely for a bare-copper cable whose certificate covers one size.

What we will do is show the arithmetic, state our cost model, and send the current sheet on request — with the copper basis, the validity date and the certification scope printed on it. That is the version a purchasing committee can actually use.

The comparison we will not makeYou will not find a table here comparing our prices to another manufacturer’s. Public cable prices are mostly quote-gated, and the numbers that do circulate are conditioned differently — different incoterms, different MOQ, different certificate scope. Comparing them produces a confident wrong answer, which is worse than no answer.

02The formula, and the table it produces

copper $/m  =  ( cross-section in mm² ÷ 100 ) × 100 cm × 8.89 g/cm³ × ( LME $/t ÷ 1,000,000 )

Written less compactly: the mass of copper in one metre of a solid-equivalent conductor is the cross-section in mm² multiplied by 8.89 g per metre per mm². Multiply that by the metal price and you have the part of the quote that nobody can argue with. Stranding adds a little, tinning adds about 8 %, and insulation, armour and sheath sit on top.

Copper mass and metal value per metre

Table 1 — Copper mass and metal value per metre, at an LME anchor of US$13,500/t
Cross-sectionCopper mass (g/m)Copper value ($/m)With tinning +8 % ($/m)Move per +$500/t ($/m)Where you buy this size
2.5 mm²22.20.3000.324+0.011Residential PV strings, short runs, control
4 mm²35.60.4800.518+0.018The standard PV string cable
6 mm²53.30.7200.778+0.027Longer strings, higher current, drop-limited runs
10 mm²88.91.2001.296+0.045Combiner-to-inverter DC, small AC tails
16 mm²142.21.9202.074+0.071DC mains, LV feeder tails
70 mm²622.38.401—+0.311LV armoured feeder (a 4×70 cable holds ~2.49 kg/m of copper)
240 mm²2,133.628.804—+1.067Single-core large feeder, 4×240 is ~8.5 kg/m of copper
Our own arithmetic, stated so you can break it: copper density 8.89 g/cm³, LME anchor US$13,500/t (the basis used in our published 2026 solar cable price guide), tinning premium 8 % on the conductor. Solid-equivalent mass — a stranded conductor of the same nominal cross-section is within a few percent of this. Tinning column is left blank for the large sizes because we do not build tinned conductors there. The $500/t column is the sensitivity a buyer should actually watch: on a 100 km order of 4 mm² cable, that is a $1,800 swing in metal alone. Trade reports in August 2026 put copper above $14,000/t at points during the year; we have not verified that independently, so re-run the formula with your own quote date rather than trusting any anchor on this page.
COPPER VALUE PER METRE vs CONDUCTOR CROSS-SECTION (LME $13,500/t) $0.0 $0.5 $1.0 $1.5 $2.0 2.5 4 6 10 16 cross-section mm2 → the line is straight because mass per metre is linear in cross-section bare copper $/m + tinning 8%
Figure 1 — The metal floor, plotted on true linear axes: x is cross-section in mm², y is US dollars of copper per metre at the $13,500/t anchor, so the straight line through the origin is the arithmetic itself rather than an illustration of it. The dashed line is the same conductors with tinning added at 8 %. The big sizes are deliberately off this chart: 70 mm² sits at $8.40/m and 240 mm² at $28.80/m, which is where a buyer stops arguing about cents per metre and starts arguing about kilograms per drum.

03What a cable price is made of, on our side of the invoice

This is our cost model, published so you can interrogate a quote against it — including ours. It is the same four-block breakdown we used in the solar price guide, and it is a statement about our supply chain, not an industry average.

Our four cost blocks

Table 2 — Our four cost blocks, and what moves each one
BlockShare of finished costWhat actually moves it
Raw copper (and tinning)55–65 %LME, plus the tinning and stranding premium. This is the block a $500/t move touches
Insulation and sheath compound12–18 %XLPO costs multiples of PVC per kilogram; UV stabiliser package, halogen-free chemistry, and armour wire on top
Manufacture and testing10–15 %Extrusion and cross-linking line time, batch QC, type testing and annual factory-audit costs spread over volume
Logistics and margin8–18 %Incoterms choice, freight, warehousing, and how much local stock the seller is carrying for you
Shares are our own model as first published in the Sorivo solar cable price guide, rounded, and they will not match a competitor’s structure. The point of the model is diagnostic: if a quote is materially below the metal line in Table 1, one of these four blocks is not what the specification says it is.
The three ways a price looks low
  • Bare instead of tinned where the specification implies tinned — roughly 8 % of the conductor, and a real difference at a PV terminations.
  • Certified at one cross-section, sold across five. A certificate that covers 4 mm² does not cover 6 or 10. Ask which sizes are in the certificate schedule, then check the number in the issuing body’s database.
  • Compound substitution. PVC where XLPO was assumed is the cheapest way to make a cable look right on a datasheet and fail in the field. Our cheap versus premium solar cable note covers how the difference shows up at year six.

046 mm² or 10 mm²: what the extra copper buys

The search that brings most buyers here is a size question dressed as a price question. So do it on the arithmetic rather than on the per-metre number, because the per-metre number is the smallest part of the decision.

Resistance scales inversely with cross-section, so going from 4 mm² to 6 mm² costs 50 % more metal and cuts resistance by a third; going to 10 mm² costs 150 % more metal and cuts resistance by roughly 60 %. What you get for it, on a real string: 15 A over 50 m one-way, conductor at 60 °C, tinned copper resistance from IEC 60228.

One string, three sizes: what the extra copper buys

Table 3 — Same string, three sizes: metal cost versus the drop and loss you are buying out
SizeR at 60 °C (Ω/km, tinned)Voltage drop, 100 m loop at 15 AAs % of a 700 V stringLoss in the runCopper + tin, per 100 m
4 mm²5.738.6 V1.23 %129 W$52
6 mm²3.825.7 V0.82 %86 W$78
10 mm²2.263.4 V0.48 %51 W$130
Our own calculation. Inputs: IEC 60228 Class 2/5 maximum DC resistance at 20 °C (4.95 / 3.30 / 1.95 Ω/km tinned copper for 4 / 6 / 10 mm²), corrected to 60 °C with α = 0.00393/°C, then ΔV = 2·I·R·L and P = I²·R for a 100 m conductor loop. Metal cost from Table 1 including the 8 % tinning premium. Not included: DC resistance tolerance of the actual reel, temperature beyond 60 °C, terminations, or the ampacity question — sizing for current is a different calculation, and the ampacity calculator and DC sizing guide cover it.
Read it as a decisionThe step from 4 to 6 mm² costs about $26 per 100 m and removes 43 W of loss plus a third of your drop. On a long string or a run where drop is the binding constraint, that is the cheapest engineering on the site. The step from 6 to 10 mm² costs $52 more and buys back 35 W — usually the wrong trade unless the run is long, the design drop budget is tight, or you are consolidating sizes to simplify procurement. Decide it on the run length, not on the price list.

05The seven columns that make a price list usable

Ask any supplier — us or anyone else — for a sheet with these columns, and half your comparison work disappears.

  1. Cross-section and conductor class (and whether tinned or bare).
  2. Standard and certificate number, with the list of certified cross-sections — not a logo.
  3. Copper mass per unit length. If a seller will not state it, they know why.
  4. Index basis and validity date — which LME figure, which date, and how the price re-quotes.
  5. Incoterms and destination, so the freight and duty questions are answered before they are hidden.
  6. MOQ per cross-section and pack size, because a low unit price with a 10 km minimum is not a low price.
  7. Lead time and what happens to the price if it slips — the clause that matters most when copper is rising.

Column 4 and column 7 are where the arguments happen. Our contract clause note covers the wording we accept on copper-index and delivery liability; the FOB vs CIF vs DDP guide covers column 5 and why the same cable can be quoted three different ways.

06What sits on top of the FOB number

Two things move a landed cost faster than the copper index, and neither of them is the cable.

  • Duty and trade measures. For US-bound goods, the copper Section 232 layers and the Section 301 rates now apply on the full customs value rather than on metal content, which changes the arithmetic on exactly the cable lines in Table 1. We keep that in a separate note — start with our 2026 guide to duties on Chinese cable imports — and we do not put duty numbers on a price sheet, because they belong to your entry date and your broker’s ruling, not to our quotation.
  • Freight and stock position. Ex-works versus delivered is often a bigger per-metre difference than the metal move. A distributor carrying local stock is selling you lead time, not cable; our hidden-cost TCO note is where that comparison belongs.

For the metal side, our copper price survival guide covers how a factory handles a rising index without repricing every shipment, which is the practical version of column 4.

Table 4 — Current Sorivo ranges: the metal floor we can calculate, and the three columns that have to come from the factory
Product familyStandardCopper + tin floor ($/m, from Table 1)FOB range ($/m)MOQValidity
H1Z2Z2-K 4 mm² solar cableEN 506180.518———
H1Z2Z2-K 6 mm² solar cableEN 506180.778———
H1Z2Z2-K 10 mm² solar cableEN 506181.296———
ESS / BESS DC cableTUV 2PfG 2693 (per product page)size-dependent———
CU/XLPE/SWA/PVC 4×70 mm² LV armouredIEC 60502-133.60 (all 4 cores)———
THHN/THWN-2 10 AWG building wireUL 83size-dependent———
The metal-floor column is our calculation from Table 1, and it is the number you can check without asking anyone. FOB, MOQ and validity carry live factory numbers, so we issue them per enquiry with the LME basis date printed on the sheet rather than publishing a figure that is stale by next month. Send the eight-line enquiry in section 07 and those three columns come back populated and dated.

07The eight-line enquiry that gets a real answer

Copy this into an email. It takes a buyer ninety seconds and it removes most of the reasons a quotation comes back useless.

RFQ template
  1. Cable type and standard required, with the cross-sections that must be inside the certificate scope.
  2. Conductor: bare or tinned, class of stranding, and the copper mass per metre you expect.
  3. Quantities per size, and whether the sizes ship on one consolidated order.
  4. Destination port or address, and the Incoterm you want quoted.
  5. Required lead time and the date you need it on site.
  6. Certificate copies up front, with the number, so verification is not a later argument.
  7. Your copper-index basis and validity period, stated, not assumed.
  8. Who pays for re-test if a batch fails incoming inspection.
Email that to sale@sorivocable.com and you will get a dated sheet back with the three empty columns in Table 4 filled in.

Get the 2026 price sheet as a dated PDF

Send the eight lines above and we return a price sheet carrying the LME basis date, the FOB band per size, MOQ per cross-section, lead time and the certificate scope — the three columns Table 4 leaves to the factory, filled in and dated. One email, no form to complete.

Email the eight lines Request a quote instead
Related product · the sizes used in the worked examples above
H1Z2Z2-K 4 mm² tinned copper solar cable
ApplicationPV string wiring, 10–20 A strings, rooftop and utility BOS
StandardsEN 50618 (TUV certified, per product page)
ConductorTinned copper, Class 5 flexible stranded, 4 mm²
InsulationCross-linked XLPO, halogen-free, UV resistant
Voltage Rating1500 V DC system
CertificationsTUV certified to EN 50618 (per product page)
H1Z2Z2-K 6 mm² tinned copper solar cable
ApplicationLonger string runs and drop-limited layouts
StandardsEN 50618 (TUV certified, per product page)
ConductorTinned copper, Class 5 flexible stranded, 6 mm²
InsulationCross-linked XLPO, halogen-free, UV resistant
Voltage Rating1500 V DC system
CertificationsTUV certified to EN 50618 (per product page)
H1Z2Z2-K 10 mm² tinned copper solar cable
ApplicationCombiner-to-inverter DC runs and short high-current tails
StandardsEN 50618 (TUV certified, per product page)
ConductorTinned copper, Class 5 flexible stranded, 10 mm²
InsulationCross-linked XLPO, halogen-free, UV resistant
Voltage Rating1500 V DC system
CertificationsTUV certified to EN 50618 (per product page)
ESS / BESS energy storage cable, 1500 V DC
ApplicationBattery cabinet DC interconnect and PCS-side wiring in BESS
StandardsTUV 2PfG 2693 (per product page)
ConductorTinned copper, flexible stranded, sizes per product page
InsulationCross-linked low-smoke compound
Voltage RatingDC 1500 V system
CertificationsTUV 2PfG 2693 (per product page)
Want the sheet with the numbers in it? Send the eight-line enquiry above and we will return a dated price list with FOB, MOQ and validity filled in for your sizes: request a quote.
Q1Is there a 2026 cable price list I can download?

Not as a static PDF on this page, deliberately. A per-metre cable price is a copper price with a specification attached, and the metal leg moves monthly, so a downloadable list goes stale between quarters and gets quoted back to us out of date. What we send on request is the same table with a stated LME basis, a validity date, MOQ per cross-section and the certificate scope — which is the version a purchasing committee can act on.

Q2How do I check whether a cable quote is fair?

Do the metal first. Copper mass per metre is cross-section in mm² times 8.89 g; at an LME anchor of $13,500/t that is $0.48/m of copper in a 4 mm² conductor, $0.72/m at 6 mm² and $1.20/m at 10 mm², with about 8 % more if the conductor is tinned. If a quoted FOB price sits at or below that metal figure, the insulation, labour, testing and margin are not in it — which means one of the four blocks in our cost model is not what the specification claims. Then compare quotes on identical incoterms, quantities, certificate scope and validity date.

Q3Why is 6 mm² solar cable worth the extra over 4 mm²?

Because resistance scales inversely with cross-section: 6 mm² has about two-thirds of the resistance of 4 mm² for 50 % more metal. On a 15 A string with 50 m of run each way, our worked example drops from 8.6 V to 5.7 V of drop and from 129 W to 86 W of loss, for roughly $26 more copper per 100 m. Where length or a tight drop budget is the binding constraint, that is the cheapest engineering available; on short runs it is usually an unnecessary upgrade.

Q4Does copper price movement really change my quote that much?

It is the largest single block in the price, and it moves. A $500/t change in LME copper shifts the metal value of 4 mm² cable by about $0.018 per metre and 10 mm² by about $0.045 per metre. On a 100 km order of 4 mm² cable that is roughly $1,800 of metal alone — which is why a serious quotation states its index basis and validity period, and why a price that has not moved in six months deserves a question about the specification.

Q5Are US tariffs included in an FOB cable price?

No, and they should not be hidden inside one. For US-bound cable, duty depends on the exact 10-digit classification, the origin and smelt-and-cast evidence, and the Chapter 99 provisions in force on the entry date — the copper Section 232 measures now apply to the full customs value rather than to metal content. We quote FOB with the classification facts stated, and the duty arithmetic belongs with your broker; our 2026 duties guide explains the layers.

Q6Can I get a price for a size that is not on your product pages?

Ask, and say what the application is. What we will not do is quote a category we do not build. If your specification calls for a product outside our published range, we will tell you that plainly rather than substitute something that reads the same on a datasheet — that is the fastest way to make a cheap cable expensive.

Get the dated price sheet

Send the sizes, quantities, destination and the certificate scope you need. We return a quotation with the copper basis, validity period, MOQ and lead time stated — the three columns this page leaves blank.

Ask a Quote Book a Sample Kit
Senior cable application engineer at Sorivo
Reviewed by Luo Qiang — Senior Cable Application Engineer, Sorivo
15+ years in industrial and renewable energy cable specification. Experienced in cable specification aligned with IEC standards.

What the numbers on this page are

  • Copper mass and value per metre, the $500/t sensitivity, and the string drop and loss figures in Table 3 are our own arithmetic. Every input is printed in the table notes: copper density 8.89 g/cm³, LME anchor US$13,500/t (re-check the current settlement price on the LME Official Prices (spot: LME Copper) before you use it), tinning premium 8 %, IEC 60228:2023 maximum DC resistance at 20 °C, temperature coefficient 0.00393/°C, and ΔV = 2·I·R·L for a two-wire DC loop.
  • The 90 °C continuous / 120 °C short-time conductor-temperature basis for the cross-linked XLPO insulation follows IEC 62930 (IECEE standard summary).
  • The four-block cost model is Sorivo’s own, first published in our solar cable price guide. It is not an industry average and should not be quoted as one.
  • The FOB, MOQ and validity columns in Table 4 are issued per enquiry with the LME basis date printed on the sheet, because a published figure would be stale before the next copper move.
  • We do not cite competitor prices, and we found no credible public 2026 cable price list to compare against. Statements about copper price levels during 2026 are attributed as trade reporting, not verified independently.

Related reading

This is a commercial guidance note, not a price offer or a contract. Prices, duties and freight change; nothing on this page is a quotation until it is dated and addressed to you.