Applies to establishments engaged as iron or steel merchants or as dealers of wire rope, cable, or metal conduit. This classification includes the merchandising of nonferrous metals such as, but not limited to, copper, brass, or aluminum. This classification is distinguished from scrap metal dealers in classification 0604 who deal primarily in used metal as opposed to merchants in classification 2004 who sell new goods. Iron or steel merchants receive metal in the form of beams, sheets, plates, bars, rods, pipe, rounds, channels, angles, tubes, or coils from the mills which they unload with overhead cranes, and store them in their shop or yard. Using power equipment such as shears, hacksaws, drills, benders, and cutting torches, they are cut, sheared, and formed to customer specifications. Wire rope and cable dealers use coilers to wind the wire rope or cable from large spools onto smaller spools, and use saws or other cutting tools to cut it to length and large hydraulic presses to attach sockets, pulleys and other hardware to wire rope to form rigging used by the fishing, logging, and construction industry.

This classification excludes scrap metal and junk dealers which are to be reported separately in classification 0604, and rebar fabricators which are to be reported separately in classification 5209.