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Chromium

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A hard, corrosion-resistant metal that makes steel stainless. Chromium is produced only from chromite ore, and South Africa mines nearly half of it. Most ore is smelted into ferrochrome, mainly in China, and more than 80% of ferrochrome goes into stainless steel.

Supply risk

Reviewed 3 Oct 2026 · Methodology

Moderate

Concentrated ore and alloy supply, with South African export controls pending

Supply concentration (elevated) and operational disruption (elevated) set the level: South Africa mines about 45% of chromite and China makes about half or more of ferrochrome, and South African smelter suspensions since 2025 have cut alloy output. South Africa's planned chrome ore export permits had not curbed shipments by mid-2026, so supply to major markets is not impaired.

Since 1 Jan 2023 · Sources: U.S. Geological Survey, SMM (Shanghai Metals Market)

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Risk drivers

Supply concentrationElevated
South Africa mined about 45% of the world's 51 million t of chromite in 2025, ahead of Turkey and Kazakhstan. China made an estimated 49% of world ferrochrome in 2023, and South African alloy output has since fallen sharply. USGS's 2025 list notice put Chinese control of chromium ferroalloys at 70–80%.Sources: U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Geological Survey, Federal Register (U.S. Geological Survey)
Export controlsModerate
On 25 Jun 2025 South Africa's Cabinet agreed to place chrome ore under ITAC export permits and to develop an export tax. ITAC's notice on HS 2610.00 closed for comment on 31 Oct 2025. South African ore exports in June 2026 were 39% higher than a year earlier, and no refusals were reported.Sources: International Energy Agency, Policies Database, Freight News, SMM (Shanghai Metals Market)
Policy & tariffsModerate
South Africa is developing a chrome ore export tax and electricity tariff relief for smelters. In the US, chromium joined the critical minerals list in Nov 2025, and Proclamation 11001 (14 Jan 2026) set no Section 232 tariff on processed critical minerals but left further measures open. US normal duties on chromite are free.Sources: International Energy Agency, Policies Database, Thompson Hine, U.S. Geological Survey
Operational disruptionElevated
The Glencore-Merafe Chrome Venture suspended its Boshoek (1 May 2025), Wonderkop and Lion smelters, citing electricity costs; its ferrochrome output fell 51% in Jan–Sep 2025 and Merafe's share fell a further 75% in H1 2026. Chromite mining continued: Merafe's ore output held steady.Sources: GMK Center, Miningmx, SMM (Shanghai Metals Market)
Demand shockLow
USGS reports that stainless steel production in China, the largest chromium consumer, was affected by oversupply and weaker consumer demand in 2025. World chromite output rose about 3% in 2025.Source: U.S. Geological Survey

A supply-availability rating, not a price forecast or investment view. Export-control information is factual and is not legal advice.

Trade flows

2025 · HS 261000

Chromium ores and concentrates

Recorded world imports: 27.3 Mt · $7.3B

Top exporters

  1. South Africa82%22.4 Mt · $5.84B
  2. Zimbabwe8%2.2 Mt · $624M
  3. Türkiye4%1.1 Mt · $347M
  4. Pakistan1%339,404 t · $101M
  5. Oman1%332,727 t · $63.8M
  6. Papua New Guinea<1%195,402 t · $57.1M
  7. Albania<1%130,746 t · $36.2M
  8. Madagascar<1%126,155 t · $34M
  9. Philippines<1%108,189 t · $30.4M
  10. United Arab Emirates<1%99,061 t · $25.8M

Top importers

  1. China87%23.7 Mt · $6.16B
  2. Indonesia9%2.5 Mt · $716M
  3. India<1%272,836 t · $92.1M
  4. South Africa<1%132,419 t · $21.1M
  5. Germany<1%127,056 t · $50.4M
  6. United States<1%120,901 t · $50.7M
  7. Türkiye<1%117,334 t · $42.2M
  8. Netherlands<1%89,326 t · $37.4M
  9. Japan<1%46,289 t · $21.2M
  10. Malaysia<1%37,109 t · $20.6M

Largest routes

  1. South Africa→China19.6 Mt · $4.98B
  2. South Africa→Indonesia2.2 Mt · $607M
  3. Zimbabwe→China1.9 Mt · $567M
  4. Türkiye→China853,483 t · $255M
  5. Oman→China319,096 t · $60.4M

Source: UN Comtrade, imports reported by 74 countries for 2025. Exporters are ranked by what importing countries recorded (mirror data), so countries that do not report their own exports are still counted. Values are in US dollars including freight and insurance. Weights are product weight. Recent years can be incomplete, and unrecorded trade is not included.

Overview

Chromium is a hard, silvery metal. Its main job is to make steel stainless: in contact with air it forms a thin, stable film that protects the steel underneath from .1 It is also used for chrome plating, in pigments and in leather tanning.2

There is no for chromium in , its largest use, or in , its most important strategic use.3 Supply is concentrated in a few countries, and China is the leading producer of ferrochrome.3

The United States added chromium to its 2025 List of . found that a disruption in chromium , where China controls an estimated 70 to 80% of the market, could have a significant effect on US GDP.4 Chromium is not on the EU's list of critical or strategic raw materials.5

Where it comes from

Chromite, an oxide of chromium and iron (FeCr₂O₄), is the only from which chromium is extracted. Most chromite comes from stratiform deposits in large layered intrusions, such as South Africa's Bushveld Complex. Podiform deposits are mined mainly in Kazakhstan, Turkey and Albania.6 In South Africa, chromite is also recovered as a of platinum mining from the UG2 reef.6

World chromite ore production was an estimated 51 million t (gross weight) in 2025, up about 3% on 2024. South Africa mined about 45% of the total, followed by Turkey and Kazakhstan.3 USGS notes that deep-level mining, labor costs and an unreliable electricity supply could affect South African output, and that new mines and expansions may raise production in Brazil, Kazakhstan and Zimbabwe.3

Chromite ore mine production by country (gross weight)2025 (est.) · world 51,000,000 t
  • South Africa45%
  • Turkey18%
  • Kazakhstan14%
  • India6%
  • Brazil4%
  • Zimbabwe4%
  • Finland4%
  • Other countries6%

Gross weight of chromite ore, not chromium content. World total is the USGS rounded figure; the country estimates add up to 50.9 million t. Source: Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Chromium

are even more concentrated. World resources exceed 12 billion t of shipping-grade chromite, and about 95% of them are in Kazakhstan and southern Africa.3

Ferrochrome is made by reducing chromite with carbon in an .2 China is the leading producer of ferrochrome and stainless steel and the largest consumer of chromium.3

What it is used for

Ferrochrome is the most important for stainless steel, and more than 80% of the world's ferrochrome is used to make it. Special steels, such as tool steels, bearing steels and high-speed steels, take about 15%.71

Chromium metal, which is almost pure chromium, goes into superalloys for jet engines, land-based gas turbines and nuclear and petrochemical plants. It is also used as a thin-film material in electronics.8 Chromium chemicals are used mainly for leather tanning: around 80% of the world's leather is chrome-tanned.1 Chromite is also used as foundry sand because of its high and thermal conductivity.1

In the United States, stainless-steel and heat-resisting-steel producers are the leading consumers of ferrochrome. A single company used imported chromite to make chromium chemicals in 2025.3

Grades and forms

Chromium is traded mainly as chromite ore and as ferrochrome. Ferrochrome contains 50 to 70% chromium and is grouped by carbon content. Most of what is produced is charge chrome, a grade with less chromium than standard high-carbon ferrochrome.7 US schedules classify chromite by its chromic oxide (Cr₂O₃) content.3

Chromite ore and concentrate

Graded by Cr₂O₃ content, e.g. < 40%, 40–46%, ≥ 46% Cr₂O₃

The only commercial source of chromium, sold as metallurgical, chemical and foundry grades.

UG2 chrome concentrate

40–42% chromite

Concentrate upgraded from tailings of South African platinum mining, used as ferrochrome furnace feed.

Charge chrome

45–56% Cr, 4–9% C

The bulk high-carbon ferrochrome grade, used mainly in stainless steel and produced mainly in South Africa.

High-carbon ferrochrome (HC FeCr)

60–70% Cr, 4–9% C

Higher-chromium ferroalloy for stainless and alloy steels, usually smelted in submerged electric arc furnaces.

Low- and medium-carbon ferrochrome (LC/MC FeCr)

LC < 0.5% C; MC 0.5–4% C

Used to add chromium to special steels and superalloys without adding carbon.

Chromium metal

> 99.5% Cr

Made mostly by aluminothermic reduction of chromium oxide and used in superalloys and thin films.

Chromium chemicals

Compounds such as chromium(III) hydroxide sulfate, used mainly for tanning leather.

Trade and policy

The United States reported no chromite in 2021–25 and relied on imports for 79% of its chromium consumption in 2025. In 2021–24, 96% of its chromite came from South Africa. Its ferrochrome imports came mainly from South Africa (41%) and Kazakhstan (24%).3

South Africa has moved to restrict exports of raw chromite to support its ferrochrome :

DateEvent
25 Jun 2025South Africa's Cabinet agrees to place chrome ore under export control with permits from the International Trade Administration Commission (ITAC). It also begins work on a chrome ore export tax and agrees on electricity tariff relief for ferrochrome producers.9
6 Oct 2025ITAC publishes a notice on placing chrome ore (tariff subheading 2610.00) under export control, with comments due by 31 October 2025.10

USGS notes that potential and tariffs on South African chromite could affect ferrochrome production in China.3

This section is factual background, not legal or trade-compliance advice.

Recycling and substitution

Chromium is mainly as stainless-steel . On average, 95% of stainless steel is recycled at the end of its life.11 In the United States, chromium in stainless-steel scrap supplied 21% of apparent consumption in 2025.3

Chromium has no substitute in stainless steel or superalloys. Chromium-containing scrap can replace ferrochrome in some metallurgical uses.3

Sources

  1. Why is chrome used in so many applications. International Chromium Development Association, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  2. Chromium: element information, properties and uses. Royal Society of Chemistry, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩ ↩2

  3. Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Chromium. U.S. Geological Survey, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12

  4. Final 2025 List of Critical Minerals. Federal Register, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩

  5. Regulation (EU) 2024/1252 (Critical Raw Materials Act). EUR-Lex, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩

  6. What is chromite (chrome) ore and where is it found. International Chromium Development Association, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩ ↩2

  7. What is ferrochrome (FeCr) and what is it used for. International Chromium Development Association, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩ ↩2

  8. Chrome metal: properties, production and uses. International Chromium Development Association, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩

  9. Export control of chrome ore in South Africa. International Energy Agency, Policies Database, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩

  10. Placing of chrome ore under export control: Comment due. Freight News, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩

  11. 95% of stainless steel is recycled at the end of its life. International Chromium Development Association, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩

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