Chromium
What makes stainless steel stainless. South Africa produces close to half the world's chromite.
Stainless steel in cooling loops, chillers and plumbing; superalloys in turbines.
South Africa introduced chromite ore export licensing in 2025.
Where it's produced
Share of 2025 world mine production (thousand metric tons). Source: USGS MCS 2026.
Where the reserves are
Share of known economic reserves (thousand metric tons). World total: 540M t. ≈ 11 years at 2025 output.
Who calls it critical
Membership on each government list. “Strategic” marks a higher tier where the list has one; “group” means included as part of a group such as rare earths or PGMs.
Chromium: key questions
- Where is chromium mined or produced?
- According to USGS 2025 data, the largest producers are South Africa (45%), Turkey (18%) and Kazakhstan (14%) of world mine production.
- Is chromium a critical mineral?
- Chromium appears on 6 of the 10 official lists we track (United States, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Canada).
- Is chromium in short supply?
- Our supply status: Watch. South Africa introduced chromite ore export licensing in 2025.
- Why does chromium matter for AI infrastructure?
- Stainless steel in cooling loops, chillers and plumbing; superalloys in turbines.
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