Two of the most confused grades in Indian copper procurement are Millberry (ISRI: Barley) and Birch (ISRI: Birch). They look similar in a photograph, the trade names are used loosely, and the discount to LME can swing several thousand rupees a tonne based on which one shows up on the weighbridge.
Specification snapshot
Millberry (Barley)
- Bare, uncoated, unalloyed copper wire
- Minimum 16 gauge (≥ 1.3 mm)
- No tin, lead, solder, burnt wire or hair wire
- Purity: 99.9% – 99.95%
Birch (Birch)
- Clean, unalloyed copper wire, may be tinned or coated
- Smaller gauges permitted
- Light oxidation and minor attachments tolerated
- Purity: typically 96% – 99%
Where the price gap comes from
A rod mill running Millberry needs almost no refining — feed it, cast it, draw it. The same rod mill running Birch deals with lower yield, more dross, longer melt cycles and tighter quality monitoring. That cost passes back into the buy-side discount.
When to buy which
Buy Millberry for transformer winding wire, enameled copper, high-conductivity bus bars and any application where rework is expensive. Buy Birch for ingot manufacturing, brass alloying, foundry charge mix and applications where chemistry is corrected upstream.
Common mis-sells to watch for
- Birch invoiced as Millberry by hiding tinned strands inside the bale
- Mixed loads with hair wire reducing effective yield below 95%
- Burnt wire passed off as Birch when it is actually Candy or lower
If the seller cannot share an XRF reading or a melt test at loading, treat the load as one grade lower than invoiced.