Taiwan Rep / Notes

Made in Taiwan, melted in Malaysia? Where Taiwan's imported wire rod comes from

A bolt headed and threaded in Taiwan normally counts as Taiwan origin under Taiwan's rules. The steel in it may have been melted somewhere else. Partner countries' export records show who shipped wire rod to Taiwan from 2023 to 2025, and why that matters for your Section 232 and CBAM paperwork.

Updated October 13, 2026. Trade figures from UN Comtrade, as reported by the exporting countries, read the same day.

Buyers tend to think of a Taiwan bolt as Taiwanese all the way down. For Taiwan's own origin certificates it usually is: forming wire rod into a bolt changes the tariff heading, so under Taiwan's general rule the bolt is Taiwan origin wherever the rod came from, unless a special rule applies, and the importing country still decides under its own rules, as our certificate of origin note explains. But two sets of rules now ask about the steel itself. US Section 232 entries report the country where the steel was melted and poured, and CBAM's actual-emissions route runs back to the mill that made it. This note looks at which countries ship wire rod to Taiwan, how fast that changes, what the data can't tell you, and what to ask your supplier.

Who ships wire rod to Taiwan

Taiwan's own detailed import statistics sit behind a CAPTCHA, so we used mirror data: what other countries' customs report exporting to Taiwan, published in UN Comtrade under partner code 490 ("Other Asia, nes"). Non-alloy carbon steel rod in coils falls under HS 7213, mostly 7213.91 (round, under 14 mm). Alloy rod, which includes boron and chromium-molybdenum steels, falls under 7227. The codes don't say what the rod was used for.

Tonnes, as reported by the exporting country. Of the 2025 total, 382,666 tonnes were 7213.91; reinforcing bar in coils (7213.10) was only 639 tonnes. The codes can't show how much of this went into fasteners rather than wire, springs or other products. Weights are the reported net weights; a few are flagged as estimated.

Alloy rod tells a steadier story. Partner countries reported 95,620 tonnes of 7227 to Taiwan in 2023, 110,929 in 2024 and 113,266 in 2025. Korea supplied 57%, 66% and 68.5% of it. In 2025 Japan sent 22,139 tonnes and China 10,878. Stainless rod (7221) is much smaller, 12,437 tonnes in 2025, mostly from Japan and Korea.

Read the carbon steel table as a ranking that moves. Indonesia supplied about half of the reported rod in 2023 and 2024. In 2025 Malaysia, which had reported 37 tonnes two years earlier, shipped more than any other country. A Taiwan maker's rod can come from a different country than it did last year, so a mill certificate from one order only covers the next if the same heat numbers trace through to it.

What the data can't tell you

Before going further, the limits. Three of them matter.

• Domestic rod isn't in it. Taiwan has its own steel mills that make wire rod. Mirror data only shows imports, so we can't give you the share of Taiwan fastener steel that was imported. For scale only: imported carbon and alloy rod together came to about 536,000 tonnes in 2025, while partner countries reported importing 1.29 million tonnes of fasteners from Taiwan. Rod also goes into wire, springs and other products, so the two figures aren't a ratio.
• Some records are missing. Vietnam reported 14,331 tonnes of 7213 and 17,442 tonnes of 7227 to Taiwan for 2023, but our extract had no Vietnamese record to Taiwan for 2024 or 2025. If Vietnam shipped rod in those years, the totals leave it out.
• Exporting country isn't melt country. The data names the country that exported the rod, not the plant. A rolling mill can roll billets melted somewhere else, so even the exporting country isn't proof of where the steel was melted and poured. Only the mill's certificate and records can show that.

One more detail for anyone who has read our note on Taiwan's import rules for Chinese fasteners. Chinese carbon rod under 7213.91 and 7213.99 is also on Taiwan's list of mainland goods not permitted for import, and so is most Chinese alloy rod under 7227.90, except a high-carbon, high-chromium wire rod listed as conditionally permitted. China still reported 29,775 tonnes of 7213 to Taiwan in 2025. One possible route is the exception for bonded factories and science-park companies importing materials to process for export, which needs a permit (Articles 7 and 9 of the cross-strait trade regulations), but the data doesn't show which route was used.

Why the melt country matters for a Taiwan bolt

Back to the question in the title. For US entries, the answer goes on the form. CBP defines the country of melt and pour as where the raw steel was first made liquid and poured into its first solid shape, and its April 2026 guidance says to keep reporting it for covered steel and steel derivative products. If the steel in a Taiwan-made bolt was first melted and poured in Malaysia, the entry says Malaysia, even though the bolt's country of origin is Taiwan; if the Malaysian mill rolled billets melted elsewhere, it says that other country. As our Section 232 note explains, for most Taiwan fasteners the duty rate doesn't depend on it. The accuracy of the declaration does, and the code should come from the melt evidence, not be copied from the bolt's origin.

For CBAM, the default value you pay on in 2026 is set for the goods' country of origin, which is Taiwan, as our CBAM note works through. Replacing it with actual data means getting verified emissions for the installations that made the steel. EFDA's guidance, which that note cites, expected site visits to the relevant installations for 2026 imports. The Commission's verification guidance of August 24, 2026 keeps site visits as the rule, allows virtual visits or waivers under certain conditions, and has precursor data from another installation checked against that installation's own verification report. Either way, we infer from the trade data that for a bolt made from imported rod, the precursor installation may be a mill outside Taiwan. That adds a step: someone has to ask a mill abroad, which sold its rod to a Taiwan company rather than to you, to share verified installation data. Whether it will is a question only that mill can answer.

What to ask your supplier

For melt and pour, this needs no new document, just the existing one read properly. CBAM actual data is different: it needs the mill's monitoring and emissions data and a verification report, on top of the certificates. Ask for:

• the steel mill's original certificate for each heat in your order, showing the mill's name and the country where the steel was melted and poured;
• which country and which mill the rod came from, if the certificate came via a trader or a wire drawing shop that reissued it;
• whether rod from different mills or countries was used in one production lot, and if so which heats went into which cartons;
• for EU buyers over the CBAM threshold, whether that mill has a CBAM monitoring plan and will share installation data.

The answers don't change your bolt's origin under the usual rules. They change what you put on a US entry and who you'd need to reach for CBAM. The rod that went into last year's order may have come from a different country than this year's, so check it per order.

Mirror data reflects exporting countries' records, which can differ from Taiwan's own in timing, valuation and coverage. This is a practical guide for buyers, not legal, customs or CBAM advice.

Sources

• UN Comtrade: exports to partner 490 reported by all countries, HS 7213, 7221 and 7227 and their six-digit subheadings, 2023 to 2025; separate checks of Malaysia's and Vietnam's records to Taiwan; read October 13, 2026
• UN Comtrade: imports of HS 7318 from partner 490 reported by all countries, 2025
• Mainland goods not permitted for import and conditionally permitted, International Trade Administration, via data.gov.tw
• Regulations Governing Trade between the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area, Article 7
• CSMS #62582900, Section 232 Melt and Pour Requirements (definition), and CSMS #68253075, April 3, 2026, CBP, as cited in our Section 232 note
• Guidance on CBAM verification and accreditation, European Commission, August 24, 2026, sections 4.9 and 7.3
• CBAM cost calculation in 2026, European Fastener Distributor Association, March 2026, as cited in our CBAM note