Getting Started with Brass Rod (BR-ROD) - Per Tonne Real-Time Price API

You need to price brass rod per metric tonne in real time—whether to quote a customer, update a product catalog, or drive a hedging rule in your trading or ERP stack. By the end of this guide, you’ll call the Metals-API latest endpoint for BR-ROD, read both USD/tonne and tonne/USD values, and integrate the result into a live pricing flow with correct units, caching, and weekend handling.

What “BR-ROD per tonne” means in practice

For Brass Rod (symbol: BR-ROD), Metals-API delivers rates with base=USD by default. In that mode:

• rates["BR-ROD"] = tonnes per 1 USD (tonne/USD).
• rates["USDBR-ROD"] = USD per 1 tonne (USD/tonne).

Most pricing and quoting workflows want USD per tonne. You can request both symbols in a single call so you get direct USD/tonne (no inversion math required), while still keeping the raw tonne/USD value if you need it for conversions.

Check that the symbol you plan to use is listed on the BR-ROD line of the catalog. See the live catalog at Metals-API Supported Symbols.

Call the latest endpoint for real-time BR-ROD

Use the latest endpoint to retrieve the most recent tick for BR-ROD. Include USDBR-ROD so you get the direct USD/tonne price in the same response.

curl "https://metals-api.com/api/latest?access_key=YOUR_API_KEY&symbols=BR-ROD,USDBR-ROD,USD&base=USD"

Sample JSON: official BR-ROD latest response

Below is a real response payload (fields and values) you can expect when querying BR-ROD. Use these exact values to test your parsing logic.

{"success":true,"timestamp":1792109340,"date":"2026-10-16","base":"USD","rates":{"BR-ROD":8.9907258064516e-5,"USD":1,"USDBR-ROD":11122.572543391505}}

What you will actually use from this payload:

• timestamp: 1792109340 — Unix epoch seconds. Treat as UTC.
• date: "2026-10-16" — Trading day in ISO format (UTC).
• base: "USD" — Confirms the quote convention.
• rates["USDBR-ROD"]: 11122.572543391505 — USD per metric tonne of BR-ROD. Use this for quoting, invoicing, and P&L.
• rates["BR-ROD"]: 8.9907258064516e-5 — Tonnes per USD. This is the mathematical inverse of USD/tonne and can be handy for unit conversions.
• rates["USD"]: 1 — Convenience reference for base currency.

Production-ready code to fetch and interpret USD/tonne

This JavaScript example requests both tonne/USD and USD/tonne for BR-ROD, validates fields, and returns the USD/tonne value with metadata you can log or persist.

async function fetchBrassRodUsdPerTonne(apiKey) {
const url = "https://metals-api.com/api/latest"
+ "?access_key=" + encodeURIComponent(apiKey)
+ "&symbols=BR-ROD,USDBR-ROD,USD"
+ "&base=USD";

const res = await fetch(url, { method: "GET" });
if (!res.ok) {
throw new Error("HTTP " + res.status + " from Metals-API");
}
const data = await res.json();

if (!data.success) {
throw new Error("Metals-API error: " + JSON.stringify(data));
}

// Required fields
const { timestamp, date, base, rates } = data;
if (base !== "USD") {
throw new Error("Unexpected base currency: " + base);
}
if (!rates || typeof rates["USDBR-ROD"] !== "number") {
throw new Error("Missing USDBR-ROD (USD per tonne) in response");
}

const usdPerTonne = rates["USDBR-ROD"];
const tonnePerUsd = rates["BR-ROD"]; // optional inverse, if present

return {
usdPerTonne,
tonnePerUsd,
timestampUtc: new Date(timestamp * 1000).toISOString(),
tradeDate: date
};
}

// Example usage:
fetchBrassRodUsdPerTonne("YOUR_API_KEY")
.then(({ usdPerTonne, tonnePerUsd, timestampUtc, tradeDate }) => {
console.log("BR-ROD USD/tonne:", usdPerTonne);
console.log("BR-ROD tonne/USD:", tonnePerUsd);
console.log("UTC timestamp:", timestampUtc, "Trade date:", tradeDate);
})
.catch(err => console.error(err));

Which number to display, store, or hedge with

• Front-end quote display: Use rates["USDBR-ROD"] as the visible USD/tonne. Round only for UI; store full precision for calculations.
• Order pricing: Lock the entire calculation chain to a single timestamp and trade date. Keep the raw payload for audit.
• Hedging rules: Trigger decisions on percentage moves in USD/tonne combined with your inventory levels and customer exposure.

Symbols and units you’ll actually use

Operational details that will save you time

Units: metric tonne vs troy ounce vs kilograms

Brass rod pricing is typically expressed per metric tonne. Metals-API reflects this by providing a USD/tonne symbol (USDBR-ROD). Avoid mixing units in your app; normalize everything to USD/tonne internally. If you must show kg-based prices, convert with 1 tonne = 1,000 kg after pulling USDBR-ROD.

Base currency and inversion

• Default base is USD. With base=USD, rates["BR-ROD"] is tonne/USD and rates["USDBR-ROD"] is USD/tonne.
• If you only request BR-ROD, compute USD/tonne as 1 / rates["BR-ROD"]. For pricing code, prefer requesting both to avoid accidental inversion errors.

Timestamps and timezone

• timestamp is Unix seconds UTC. To render for end-users, format in your local timezone but store UTC.
• date is an ISO trade date (UTC). Use it to group bars and for end-of-day logic.

Caching and request economy

• Cache the latest response for the duration that matches your plan’s update cadence. If your plan updates every N minutes, serving cached values between updates avoids redundant calls.
• Downstream components (frontend, ERP) should subscribe to your cached value rather than calling the API directly.

Weekends and market closures

• Expect fewer or no updates outside active sessions. Your UI should indicate “Last updated at … UTC” and avoid implying continuous ticks when markets are closed.
• If you observe a stale timestamp, continue to display the last valid USD/tonne and label it clearly.

Error handling and fallbacks

• Always check success: true. If false, log the body and retry with backoff.
• Validate that rates["USDBR-ROD"] is a finite number before using it. If missing, compute 1 / rates["BR-ROD"] as a fallback only if BR-ROD is present and non-zero.

Adding historical context for BR-ROD

Many teams need both the live USD/tonne for quoting and a short lookback to add context (e.g., a small price trend sparkline on a product page). For that, call the historical or time-series endpoints for BR-ROD. Keep your examples and symbols consistent—request BR-ROD (and optionally USDBR-ROD) for the lookback period. For parameters and constraints, see the endpoint reference in the Documentation.

Tip: For minimal overhead, request only BR-ROD in your time series and invert on the client if needed. For absolute accuracy and simpler logic, include USDBR-ROD in the same call when supported by your plan.

Integrating with pricing, ERP, and trading flows

• Pricing microservice: Fetch latest BR-ROD, cache for your plan’s refresh interval, and expose a single internal endpoint that returns USD/tonne with timestamp and trade date.
• E-commerce SKU pricing: Store a “metal-cost-component” per SKU. Recalculate on publish or scheduled intervals using USDBR-ROD times your alloy factor and fabrication margin.
• ERP inventory valuation: Use end-of-day USDBR-ROD as your daily close and snapshot positions against it. Attach the date and timestamp for audit.
• Trading alerts: Combine a fluctuation threshold over a recent window with operational constraints (e.g., minimum quote size). Use cached data to avoid rate overruns.

Tin, digital transformation, and cross-metal analytics

If your product portfolio spans multiple semi-finished goods—like brass rod, copper wire, or tin-coated materials—real-time metals data enables planning and margin analytics that were previously spreadsheet-bound. For example, when modeling substitution effects or alloy mix optimization, correlating BR-ROD with tin (XSN) can illuminate cost drivers in solder-heavy products. This is where modern data infrastructure and APIs are shifting procurement from reactive to programmatic: time-aligned series, harmonized units (USD/tonne), and straightforward JSON payloads prepared for your data frames or feature stores.

As you expand analytics, keep your symbol set authoritative by referencing the live catalog: Metals-API Supported Symbols. For implementation specifics across endpoints, visit the Documentation.

Testing checklist before you ship

• Verify that your code reads rates["USDBR-ROD"] and treats it as USD per tonne.
• Round only for display; maintain full precision in calculations and storage.
• Log timestamp (ISO UTC) and date for every quote used in pricing or P&L.
• Implement a minimum cache TTL consistent with your plan’s update cycle to prevent redundant requests.
• Define behavior for weekends/holidays: display the last update time and avoid misleading “live” labels.
• Set up monitoring for API errors and missing fields, with fallbacks where viable.

Learn more and get access

To review all available endpoints, authentication, and parameters, see the Documentation. For the definitive symbol catalog, including BR-ROD and its USD cross, check the Symbols page.

Metals-API does not offer a free trial. If you are primarily focused on copper and industrial metals and need cost-effective access, note that Copper Monthly is $19.99/mo. When you are ready to implement your BR-ROD integration, create an account here: Register. If you need marketplace connectivity or commercial program details, see MCP.

Appendix: additional references

• Market calendar and trading sessions can affect update cadence; consult venue calendars such as the London Metal Exchange trading information when planning your refresh strategy.
• Metals-API home: metals-api.com for product overview and updates.

FAQ

Q: Which field is the actual USD per tonne price for brass rod?
A: rates["USDBR-ROD"] is USD per 1 tonne. Use this for quoting and valuation. If you only have rates["BR-ROD"], compute 1 / rates["BR-ROD"] to get USD/tonne.

Q: What timezone is the timestamp in?
A: timestamp is Unix epoch seconds in UTC. The date field is the UTC trade date. Convert to local time only for display.

Q: How often does the latest price update?
A: Update frequency depends on your subscription. Cache responses at least until the next expected update to avoid redundant calls. See the Documentation for plan-level details.

Q: Can I get a historical series for BR-ROD?
A: Yes. Use the historical or time-series endpoints with symbols=BR-ROD (and optionally USDBR-ROD). Refer to parameters and date limits in the Documentation.

Q: Is there a free trial?
A: No. To get an API key and choose a plan, go to Register.

Ready to wire real-time BR-ROD into your app? Create your account to get an API key and start integrating with the latest endpoint today: Register. For commercial and marketplace connectivity, see MCP, and bookmark the Symbols and Documentation pages as you move to production.