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Value-added mix - steel wire
What it is
The share of output that is specification-driven and priced on performance rather than on steel content - ropes, LRPC strands, bead wire, spring wire, coated and speciality wires, as against plain drawn wire
VAP share is the standard disclosure by which wire producers signal how far they have moved from commodity conversion
Impact on industries
- Insulates realisation from the steel cycle, since the price reflects engineering and approval rather than rod cost plus a conversion margin
- Customer relationships are stickier, because approvals, testing and application support create switching costs plain wire never generates
- Requires sustained R&D, testing infrastructure and application engineering, so VAP share rises slowly and expensively
- Definitions vary between companies, so reported VAP share is not directly comparable across producers without checking what is included