Wire Rod

What is wire rod?

Wire rod is raw steel wire, hot rolled and wound into large coils. It stands at the head of the wire industry: almost every wire product on the market comes from it, directly or indirectly. It is not a finished product but an intermediate material; uncoated, its surface carries the dark grey oxide layer left by rolling.

We stock 5.5 mm and 6.5 mm and sell by the kilo. These are the starting sizes most used by wire drawing lines and wire processors.

Technical specifications

The weights are approximate, calculated from the density of steel; small deviations from rolling tolerance are normal.

Who buys wire rod?

Wire rod is not something an end user strings across a garden; it is bought by those with the machinery to process it. The main buyers:

• Wire drawing plants: they pull the rod through cold drawing dies into products such as galvanized wire and annealed wire. The largest buyer group by far.
• Nail manufacturers: construction nail lines run on wire rod directly, or on wire drawn from it.
• Mesh and cage producers: plants making welded mesh panels, cage panels and woven wire.
• Chain, rope, spring and fastener manufacturers: cold forming lines for bolts, nuts, rivets and similar parts.
• Fabrication shops and repair workshops: they cut and bend the rod directly for shafts, latches, hooks, baskets, grilles and trolley assemblies.

If you want to run a fence, tie rebar or close off a surface, wire rod is the wrong product; you need drawn and coated wire. It only makes sense as raw material in your own production.

5.5 mm or 6.5 mm?

The choice depends on your end product diameter and your line capacity.

• 5.5 mm: the most common starting diameter. Reaching fine wires (roughly 1.5–3.0 mm) takes fewer drawing passes: less die wear, less energy, faster output. Standard for tie wire, woven wire and mesh wire.
• 6.5 mm: for thicker end products and larger cross sections — heavy gauge wires, heavy fasteners and work where the rod is cut and bent as it comes. More steel per metre.

For shops cutting and bending directly it is simpler: take the diameter closest to the thickness the part needs. If you are drawing, 5.5 mm is the more economical start on most lines.

How many kilos of wire rod do you need? Metres, kilos and coils

Weight per metre in steel wire is the diameter squared divided by 162. Wire rod is thick, so the figure runs high and you get few metres per kilo:

• 5.5 mm: about 0.187 kg per metre → 1 kilo ≈ 5.4 metres, 100 kilos ≈ 535 metres
• 6.5 mm: about 0.261 kg per metre → 1 kilo ≈ 3.8 metres, 100 kilos ≈ 385 metres

Example — workshop job: 500 pieces at 60 cm each need 300 metres of wire: 300 × 0.187 ≈ 56 kg in 5.5 mm, 300 × 0.261 ≈ 78 kg in 6.5 mm. Add 5% for cutting waste.

What a coil is: wire rod leaves the mill as a coil, not a spool — the wire wound into a large open centred ring, one piece far too heavy to lift by hand. It needs a forklift, crane or chain hoist, so on wire rod orders you must discuss your unloading facilities in advance. For small quantities, batches can be cut from the coil and weighed out; just say so when you order.

From wire rod to finished wire

To see why wire rod counts as "raw", look at the production chain:

1. Hot rolling: a red hot billet is rolled down to the 5.5–6.5 mm band and coiled. That output is the product in your hands.
2. Surface cleaning: the mill scale from rolling is removed mechanically or chemically; otherwise the drawing dies wear out fast.
3. Cold drawing: the wire is pulled through progressively smaller dies to the required diameter, which hardens the steel and raises strength but reduces ductility.
4. Annealing: for soft wire, the drawn wire goes through a furnace; the output is annealed wire.
5. Coating: wire for outdoor use runs through a zinc bath (galvanized wire); add an extruded plastic sheath for PVC coated wire.
6. Forming: the weaving, spot welding, twisting or nail line takes over and the finished product appears.

The chain also explains price differences: every stage adds labour, energy and material. At the head of it, wire rod is the cheapest per kilogram and needs the most processing.

Wire rod, rebar and annealed wire: three products that get confused

All three are black and uncoated, so they are often mixed up on site:

• Wire rod: smooth surfaced, supplied in coils, an intermediate material. It exists to be processed.
• Rebar: ribbed, with deformations that key it into concrete; sold in bars in set lengths, governed by structural standards. Wire rod cannot replace reinforcement in concrete.
• Annealed wire: fine, soft wire drawn from the rod and annealed, made for tying. Wire rod is thick and will not bend by hand.

Uncoated, wire rod suffers from moisture like annealed wire: a coil left outside picks up surface rust. That can be cleaned off before drawing, but deep pitting causes breaks in the drawing line. Enclosed, dry storage clear of the ground is a direct yield question here.

What determines the price of wire rod?

Wire rod carries the least added labour, so its price hangs on the market more than any other item. The deciding factors:

• Steel market and exchange rate: billet and scrap prices and the currency rate feed straight through to the price per kilogram, and fast. Always have the price confirmed on the day.
• Diameter: the gap between 5.5 mm and 6.5 mm moves with mill run rates and demand.
• Quality grade: carbon content and drawability decide which end product the wire suits; low carbon drawing quality and general fabrication quality are not priced alike.
• Quantity: unit price falls on purchases of a tonne and above; small batches cut and weighed from the coil carry extra labour.
• Freight: the product is very heavy and travels in coils; tonnage and distance set the transport cost. Delivery is charged.

All published prices include VAT. For a firm price we need the diameter, the tonnage and the province of delivery.

Ordering, freight and delivery terms

Our business is selling and shipping. You order by phone or the contact form; the coils are weighed, made ready and sent by freight from our Ostim warehouse to anywhere in Türkiye. Coil weights being high, this product usually travels by freight depot or full vehicle load rather than parcel carrier.

Tell us your unloading facilities before ordering: with no forklift, crane or chain hoist at the address, the vehicle cannot be unloaded — the most common cause of trouble in wire rod shipments.

Within Ankara, site surveys are free of charge. Delivery, however, is always charged, including deliveries within Ankara; freight is worked out on tonnage and distance and shown as a separate line on the quotation. Installation is not one of our standard services; our teams attend site only on perimeter projects of approximately 1,000 metres and above, while on raw materials such as wire rod we handle sales and shipment.