Sourcing high-speed steel wire rod from China

Duty on high-speed steel wire rod

Read from the UK Trade Tariff on 29 September 2026, heading 7227 covers hot-rolled bars and rods of other alloy steel in irregularly wound coils. Its high-speed steel line is 7227 10 00 00. This guide covers that line only; the supplied facts contain no other high-speed steel wire rod line.

For goods from China, this line lists 0% third-country duty and 24.00% residual anti-dumping duty. It is not marked for the steel measure. No suspension, countervailing duty or attached import control is recorded for this line. Before using a lower producer-specific anti-dumping rate, ask your broker to check the producer and prescribed invoice declaration.

Confirm the commodity code from the mill chemistry, rolling history and supplied coil form. Finished drawn wire and straight bars need separate classification checks. See the wider tool steel wire rod guide when comparing other tool steel grades.

Chemistry, delivery condition and tool-making trials

Specify the intended downstream process, such as drawing followed by tool manufacture. Agree the grade and chemical limits, including tungsten, molybdenum, chromium, vanadium and cobalt where relevant. Record rod diameter, ovality, delivery condition and whether annealing or descaling is included. Avoid accepting a supplier's description of equivalent steel without comparing the agreed chemistry.

Agree surface seam and decarburisation limits, hardness in the supplied condition and any carbide-distribution checks needed for your process. Request heat-linked mill results and retain representative samples. Record coil weight and dimensions against your lifting and pay-off equipment. Trial drawing and the intended heat treatment before releasing material for production.

UK REACH registration covers substances on their own, substances in mixtures and limited cases involving substances in articles. Ask your adviser to assess the supplied material's status. CBAM comes into effect on 1 January 2027; check future shipments against its scope and use the CBAM guide for planning.

Worked duty example

Illustrative example, not a quote: Illustrative order: 2 tonnes of hot-rolled high-speed steel wire rod under 7227 10 00 00, invoiced at £18,000 free on board, with £2,000 of freight and insurance to the UK. The customs value is £20,000. Duty at 0% is £0. Import VAT at 20% is charged on the customs value plus duty, £20,000, so it is £4,000. With no duty, the only import tax is the VAT, which a VAT-registered importer can usually reclaim. The import duty and VAT guide explains each step.

Inspection checklist

Identity: match coil tags and heat numbers to mill records and the packing list; segregate unidentified or mixed heats.

Chemistry and condition: compare heat analysis with the agreed grade; verify annealing, hardness and sample test results where specified.

Dimensions and handling: measure diameter and ovality around sampled coils; check coil dimensions, bindings and pay-off behaviour.

Surface and processing: inspect seams, laps, rust and scale; check agreed decarburisation limits and trial the downstream process. Arrange inspection support around these acceptance criteria.

What goes wrong

A grade substitution can change chemistry and heat-treatment response. Uneven delivery hardness can cause drawing problems, while seams may open during processing. Excessive decarburisation can leave the finished tool surface below the required performance. Keep disputed coils segregated and use retained samples to investigate.

Budgeting only for the ordinary duty misses the residual anti-dumping charge. If the required invoice is absent or its declaration is not made, the residual rate applies. Check the declaration basis with your broker before shipment and review the import duty and VAT guide.

Cambridge China Bridge sources these products for UK businesses, checking the factory and the documents before shipment. See factory verification. For repeat volumes, see container programmes.