Galvanized & High-Carbon Steel Wire (GI Wire, ACSR Core Wire & PC Strand)

Zinc-coated wire for fencing and conductor cores, and high-carbon strand for prestressed concrete

Steel wire is sold on carbon, coating, diameter and tensile strength, and the customs codes follow the first two. Wire under chapter 72 is a cold-formed product in coils: iron or non-alloy steel wire not plated or coated is HS 7217.10, wire plated or coated with zinc is HS 7217.20, and the UK tariff subdivides both at 0.25% and 0.6% carbon, so low-carbon fence wire and high-carbon wire sit on different national lines. Stranded wire, ropes and cables are HS 7312.10, and the United States enters prestressed concrete (PC) strand under HTSUS 7312.10.3010 and 7312.10.3012. Galvanized wire is bought on its zinc coating, which EN 10244-2 specifies for zinc and zinc-alloy coatings on steel wire, with coating mass measured by the gravimetric or volumetric method, alongside diameter, tensile range and coil weight. Chain-link fencing is usually made from galvanized or polyethylene-coated steel wire, the mesh commonly in 9, 11 or 11½ gauge. Overhead-line conductor makers buy galvanized high-strength steel core wire for ACSR, whose steel core lets the conductor carry more mechanical tension and sag less than an all-aluminium conductor; Class C zinc coatings are thicker than Class A and give more corrosion protection at some cost in tensile strength, and aluminium-clad steel is the option often specified for coastal lines. PC strand is stranded from wire of non-stainless, non-galvanized steel for pre-tensioned concrete, where the tendons are tensioned before the concrete is cast, and post-tensioned concrete, where they are tensioned after casting and either grouted in ducts or left unbonded in a plastic sheath filled with corrosion-inhibiting grease; BS 5896 specifies the uncoated high-tensile wire and strand used for prestressing. UN Comtrade 2024 export declarations put zinc-coated non-alloy wire (HS 7217.20) at USD 2.38 bn across 98 reporters, led by China at 34.9%, Türkiye 7.9%, Slovakia 7.7%, Czechia 4.6%, Canada 4.0% and Italy 3.9%, with Malaysia at 2.8% and India at 1.3%; uncoated non-alloy wire (HS 7217.10) at USD 2.73 bn, led by Italy 16.4%, China 13.0% and Germany 9.1%; and stranded wire, ropes and cables (HS 7312.10), a heading that also holds wire rope, at USD 6.97 bn across 125 reporters, led by China at 37.3%, Germany 5.8%, Korea 5.6%, Thailand 5.1% and the USA 4.4%, with Malaysia 2.9%, India 2.3%, Türkiye 2.2% and Indonesia 1.5%. Viet Nam's latest reported year, 2023, shows USD 403 m of exports under HS 7312.10 and USD 39 m under HS 7217.20.

The buyers are fencing and mesh makers, wire-product converters, overhead-line conductor makers stranding ACSR, precast concrete plants and post-tensioning contractors, and the stockists that hold wire and strand for construction markets. CBIL is a commodity brokerage company and brokers galvanized and high-carbon wire and PC strand from Chinese, Turkish, Malaysian, Indian, Vietnamese, Thai, Korean and Italian mills and wire drawers, against an EN 10204 3.1 certificate stating heat number, diameter, tensile results, zinc coating mass where the wire is galvanized, and the country where the steel was melted and poured, with third-party inspection of diameter, coating mass, coil weight and packing at load on request. Trade measures bite hardest on strand into the United States: anti-dumping duty orders on PC strand from Brazil, India, Japan, Mexico, Korea and Thailand, with a countervailing duty order on India, were continued in June 2026; the orders on China, in place since 2010, are in their third five-year review in 2026; and the 2021 orders on Argentina, Colombia, Egypt, Indonesia, Italy, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, Taiwan, Tunisia, Türkiye, Ukraine and the UAE drew a Commerce finding in May 2026 that dumping would likely continue if they were revoked, with the ITC holding full reviews. US Section 232 duties apply on full customs value under the proclamation effective 8 June 2026, 50% on articles entirely or almost entirely of steel and 25% on derivative articles. The UK applies a 60.4% anti-dumping duty to steel ropes and cables over 3 mm from China. EU imports fall under Regulation (EU) 2026/1384 from 1 July 2026, with annual tariff quotas across 30 CN-code categories, a 50% out-of-quota duty and a mill certificate or similar evidence of the melt-and-pour country at importation, and CBAM applies to the iron and steel goods listed by CN code in Annex I of Regulation (EU) 2023/956, so the EU importer confirms the code and needs the producer's embedded-emissions data. Wire ships in strapped coils, palletised or wrapped for sea, and strand in wrapped and strapped coils, in 20-foot and 40-foot containers for most lots and breakbulk on multipurpose tonnage for larger parcels, where CBIL's chartering desk (LaycanDesk) quotes the freight. Terms are FOB, CFR, CIF and DAP, and wire and strand are priced per metric tonne on diameter, grade, coating and coil. Send the product and standard, diameter, tensile grade, zinc coating class or mass, coil weight and inner diameter, tonnage by size and discharge port.

Need the ship as well? Our chartering desk prices steel coil and plates breakbulk freight on LaycanDesk.

Excluded origins are not offered, including product re-exported, blended or re-processed through a third country. Every lot moves with a certificate of origin naming the producing plant, mine or grower country, and nothing is quoted before the seller and loading point are known.