when people have steel in the shops on the racks they paint the end
with a colour indicating the alloy. they typically write on the colour
the batch number and the diameter.
I've noticed two very widely dispersed sellers of steel that indentify
S1214 free machining steel with pink ends.
seems more than a coincidence.

is there actually a standard industry practise for the identification
of alloys with colour on the rod ends? what is the colour code?

Stealth Pilot