Classifying iron and steel for import and export

Get help to classify various items of iron and steel, primarily those classified under chapter 72.

Pig iron, which can be made of alloy or non-alloy pig iron, is included under heading 7201. This can be:

Ferro-alloys are included under heading 7202. They can be:

The following products are excluded:

The following products are included:

Products made of concentrated ores (heading 2601) are excluded from heading 7202.

Ferrous waste and scrap, generally used for the recovery of metal by remelting, or for the manufacture of chemicals, are included.

They result from the manufacture or mechanical workings of metals and metal goods not usable due to breakage, cutting up, wear or other reasons.

They take the form of:

The following products are included:

The following products are excluded:

Ingots of metal made by casting the liquid metallic contents of a furnace or crucible into open metallic moulds are included.

Ingots are the raw material for the metal working process, they can come in:

The following products are excluded:

Semi-finished products (that may not be in coils) are included if they are:

These products include:

The following products are included:

Ribbed products with an angular profile are excluded and are classified under heading 7216.

Flat-rolled products of any size (other than rectangular or square) are included if they have:

Bar and rods are included. Heading 7213 covers those hot rolled in irregularly wound coils.

Angles and shapes are classified under heading 7216 and:

Wire (plated and non-plated) is included.

The following products are included:

Flat rolled products with a width 600 millimetres or more are included.

Products may be:

Flat rolled products with a width less than 600 millimetres are included.

Products may be:

Bars and rods (hot rolled and in irregular coils) are included.

Bars and rods (not included under heading 7221) that are hot or cold rolled are included.

Angles, shapes or sections are included if they are:

Wire is included.

The following products are included:

Flat rolled products with a width 600 millimetres or more are included.

Products may be:

Flat rolled products with a width less than 600 millimetres are included.

Products may be:

Bars and rods (hot rolled and in irregular coils) are included.

The following products are included:

Spheroidal graphite cast iron is classified as ‘Other cast articles of other iron’ under subheading 7325 99 90.

It's not classified as non-malleable cast iron (under 7325 10 00) because it's deformable under:

It's not classified as malleable cast iron under 7325 99 10. Code 7325 99 10 60 covers spheroidal graphite cast iron (also known as ductile cast iron), and parts thereof, of a kind used to:

This is because it differs in terms of its composition and method of production. Malleable cast iron under pressure or hammering can easily spread and flatten.

Forging is a process where metal is formed into a shape by heat and pressure.

Hot-drop forging and drop stamping is the production of metal shapes or sections by hot shaping cut blanks in dies.

Wire drawing is a cold process in which bars or rods (in irregularly wound coils) are drawn through one or more dies at high speed to obtain coiled wire of a smaller diameter.

Bright drawing is a cold process in which bars or rods are drawn at slow speed through one or more dies to obtain products of smaller or different shaped sections.

Hot drawing is a process where metal is heated and passed through a die to produce the finished shape.

Rolled or obtained by continuous casting means a process that casts molten steel directly into semi-finished shapes.

Hot extrusion is a process consisting of enclosing a piece of metal heated to forging temperature (approximately 360 to 520 degrees Celsius) in a chamber. High pressure is applied to the metal which is then forced through a die.

Cold extrusion is a similar process as hot extrusion, but with the metal kept at room temperature.

Sintering is a process where compacted metal powder (obtained by moulding) is passed under a burner and ignites. Air drawn through the powder causes any Sulphur or carbon present to oxidise. This causes a partial fusion of the particles in the powder, forming a porous cellular clinker (a sinter).

Closed-die forging is a process where hot metal is shaped within the walls of 2 dies that enclose the work piece.

Annealing is the heating of a metal or alloy to a predetermined temperature (below its melting point), maintaining the temperature before cooling slowly.

Pig iron, is an iron-carbon alloy not usefully malleable, containing more than 2% by weight of carbon and which may contain by weight one or more other elements within the following limits:

Spiegeleisen, is an iron-carbon alloy containing by weight more than 6% but not more than 30% of manganese and otherwise conforming to the specification of pig iron.

Ferro-alloys, are alloys in pigs, blocks, lumps or similar primary forms, in forms obtained by continuous casting and also in granular or powder forms, whether or not agglomerated, commonly used as an additive in the manufacture of other alloys or as de-oxidants, de-sulphurising agents or for similar uses in ferrous metallurgy and generally not usefully malleable, containing by weight 4% or more of the element iron and one or more of the following:

These may also contain by weight one or more other elements within the following limits:

Steels can be grouped into one of the 3 classes of chemical composition. These are:

Stainless steel is defined as an alloy steel containing, by weight, 1.2% or less of carbon and 10.5% or more of chromium (with or without other elements).

Other alloy steel is defined as steels not complying with the definition of stainless steel and containing by weight one or more of the following elements in the proportion shown:

If none of these criteria apply, then such steel is considered as a non-alloy steel.

For more information, see the chapter notes to chapter 72 in the Tariff.

If this guidance does not cover your specific item in detail and you’re importing goods into Great Britain, you can search for it in the Online Trade Tariff.

If you’re importing goods into Northern Ireland from outside the UK, and the EU and the goods are not ‘at risk’ of onward movement to the EU, you should also use the Online Trade Tariff.

If you’re importing goods into Northern Ireland from outside the UK and the EU, and the goods are at risk of onward movement to the EU, you should use the Northern Ireland (EU) Tariff.

If this guidance does cover your item, you’ll still need to look up the full commodity code to use in your declaration on the appropriate tariff.

You can find more ways to help you find a commodity code by referring to the links given in this section.

Information about pig iron, spiegeleisen and ferro-alloys has been added to the iron and steel processes and terms section. Classes of steel has been updated with information about stainless steel and other alloy steel.

Guidance on expressions and their meanings and defining spheroidal graphite cast iron has been added.

Minor text amendments made throughout the document.

Change of service contact details, as of the 1 September 2015 the tariff classification helpline is changing from telephone contact to email.

Fixing references to specialist guides

First published.