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NV Bekaert SA
Bekaert turns steel wire into stronger, longer-lasting products for cars, buildings, energy and farms.
Bekaert is a steel wire company. It takes plain steel rods and transforms them into thousands of different wire products — thin wires that reinforce tires, wires that hold up bridges, wires that carry signals or heat, and coatings that keep steel from rusting. Most people never see Bekaert's products, but they are inside the things people use every day.
The company's biggest single market is tires. Tire makers embed Bekaert's fine steel cord inside rubber to give tires strength and shape; a tire without that wire skeleton would flex and fail. Bekaert also sells wire and rope for construction, strands for bridges and buildings, and saw wire used to slice silicon for solar panels. Its coating business, largely in Asia, applies brass, zinc and other finishes so steel survives heat, moisture and wear. Customers are big manufacturers and builders rather than individual consumers, and they choose Bekaert because the wire has to meet tight specs and last for years. Bekaert earns money by selling wire and coated products, mostly under contracts that move with the price of steel, so swings in raw materials pass through rather than crush margins. It runs dozens of plants around the world — near customers in Europe, the Americas and Asia — which helps it win business but also ties it to global car and construction demand. The company traces back to 1880, when Léon Bekaert started a small wire-weaving workshop in Zwevegem, Belgium, and the family influence still shapes the culture.
The business is cyclical and not glamorous. Tire demand follows car production; construction wire follows building activity. That means lean years can hit profits hard, and Bekaert has spent the last decade trimming its portfolio and fixing underperforming units to become more resilient. It pays a dividend to shareholders and invests in new plants and product development, betting that lighter, stronger and more sustainable wire keeps it ahead of cheaper competitors, especially rivals in Asia.
Saved answer · last researched 14 Nov 2026