Chromium: Overview
Stainless steel, superalloys and chrome chemicals
What this tab covers What the commodity is used for, why, in what volumes and with what alternatives, and its chain from mine or field to end user. Also the latest price moves, top recent news, three things to know, and buttons into each tab.Key uses
| Use | Share | Annual volume | Why this commodity | Alternatives |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stainless steel | 74% | about 38 Mt of chromite ore a yearbasis | Chromium at 10.5% or more forms a thin oxide film that makes steel resist rust. Stainless needs no coating, lasts decades and is hygienic, so it is used in kitchens, process plants, cars, buildings and hospitals. USGS states chromium has no substitute in stainless steel, its leading use. EU CRM study 2023; USGS MCS 2026 | None for stainless itself (USGS) Coated carbon steel, aluminium or plastics replace stainless in some products Chromium-bearing stainless scrap replaces some ferrochrome |
| Alloy and tool steels, superalloys | 19% | about 10 Mt of chromite ore a yearbasis | Chromium raises hardenability, strength and heat resistance in engineering steels for gears, bearings and tools, and in nickel superalloys for jet engines and gas turbines, which USGS calls the major strategic use. Small additions of a few percent give large gains in performance. EU CRM study 2023; USGS MCS 2026 | Molybdenum, vanadium and nickel in some alloy steels No practical substitute in superalloys (USGS) |
| Foundry sands and casting moulds | 3% | about 1.5 Mt of chromite ore a yearbasis | Chromite sand withstands molten metal, conducts heat well and resists metal penetration, giving clean surfaces on steel castings. EU CRM study 2023 | Zircon sand Olivine and silica sand |
| Chromium chemicals (pigments, plating, leather tanning, wood preservation) | 3% | about 1.5 Mt of chromite ore a yearbasis | Chromium salts tan much of the world's leather, and chromium plating gives hard, bright surfaces. Hexavalent chromium is toxic and tightly regulated in the EU, which pushes users toward trivalent processes. EU CRM study 2023 | Vegetable and synthetic tanning agents Trivalent chromium or nickel plating Organic pigments |
| Refractory bricks and mortars | 1% | about 0.5 Mt of chromite ore a yearbasis | Magnesia-chrome bricks line copper smelters, cement kilns and glass furnaces because they resist slag attack at high temperatures. EU CRM study 2023 | Magnesia-carbon and alumina refractories Spinel bricks |
From mine to user
- 1. Chromite mining Chromite is mined from layered intrusions such as South Africa's Bushveld and from podiform deposits such as Odisha's Sukinda Valley. World output was about 51 Mt of ore in 2025 (USGS).
- 2. Beneficiation Ore is crushed and upgraded by gravity separation to lumpy ore and concentrate. India's FY2025 output of 3.16 Mt included 1.90 Mt of 40-52% Cr2O3 grade (BigMint).
- 3. Pelletising and pre-reduction Fine concentrate is pelletised or sintered, sometimes pre-reduced, to suit furnaces.
- 4. Ferrochrome smelting Ore, coke and quartz are smelted in submerged-arc electric furnaces. IMFA's 190 MVA of furnaces give about 284,000 t a year of capacity (IMFA, May 2025).
- 5. Trade South Africa exported 81% of chromite ore by value and 48% of ferrochrome in 2024; China imported 85% of ore and 51% of ferrochrome (UN Comtrade).
- 6. Stainless steelmaking Ferrochrome and stainless scrap are melted in electric arc furnaces and refined by AOD to make stainless slab. China is the leading stainless producer (USGS).
- 7. End use and recycling Stainless goes into appliances, buildings, process plant and vehicles. In the US, recycled chromium in stainless scrap was 21% of apparent consumption in 2025 (USGS).
Price movement snapshot 2026-10-25
No public daily or monthly benchmark price for this commodity in the datasets used.
World production 16.8 m tonnes, 2024 Largest producer South Africa 54.77% of world Reserve life 24 yrs reserves ÷ 2025 outputThree things to know
- World chromite resources exceed 12 billion tonnes, 95% of them in Kazakhstan and southern Africa (USGS).
- South Africa supplied 81.2% of world chromite export value in 2024, and China took 85.3% of imports (Comtrade).
- US ferrochromium prices halved, from $3.19 per pound of chromium in 2022 to about $1.60 in 2025 (USGS).
Top recent news snapshot 2026-10-25, last 30 days
- Cancer-causing chromium 1,000 times the limit in Nashik water ahead of KumbhThe Indian Express · 2026-10-13