|
| TABLE 1 | ||||||||||||||
| SALIENT CHROMIUM STATISTICS1 | ||||||||||||||
| 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | ||||||||||
| World, production, contained chromium: | ||||||||||||||
| Chromite ore (mine)2 | metric tons | 7,320,000 | 6,010,000 | r | 7,530,000 | r | 7,940,000 | r | 7,890,000 | |||||
| Ferrochromium (smelter)3 | do. | 4,590,000 | 4,000,000 | r | 5,300,000 | 5,310,000 | r | 5,120,000 | ||||||
| Stainless steel4 | do. | 4,540,000 | 4,440,000 | 5,370,000 | 5,610,000 | r | 5,930,000 | |||||||
| U.S. supply: | ||||||||||||||
| Components of U.S. supply, contained chromium: | ||||||||||||||
| Domestic mines | do. | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||||||||
| Secondary5 | do. | 146,000 | 141,000 | 144,000 | 147,000 | 146,000 | ||||||||
| Imports: | ||||||||||||||
| Chromite ore2 | do. | 64,300 | 23,000 | 43,800 | r | 70,300 | 90,800 | |||||||
| Chromium chemicals | do. | 18,000 | 10,600 | 5,120 | 4,270 | 5,880 | ||||||||
| Chromium ferroalloys | do. | 307,000 | 140,000 | 305,000 | 311,000 | 302,000 | ||||||||
| Chromium metal | do. | 13,100 | 7,570 | 13,000 | 13,600 | 15,300 | ||||||||
| Stainless steel mill products and scrap | do. | 157,000 | 91,800 | 133,000 | 132,000 | 140,000 | ||||||||
| Stocks, January 1: | ||||||||||||||
| Government | do. | 115,000 | 155,000 | 6 | 129,000 | 115,000 | 111,000 | |||||||
| Industry7 | do. | 9,940 | 7,290 | 6,820 | 7,300 | 7,770 | ||||||||
| Total | do. | 831,000 | 576,000 | 779,000 | 800,000 | 819,000 | ||||||||
| Distribution of U.S. supply, contained chromium: | ||||||||||||||
| Exports: | ||||||||||||||
| Chromite ore2 | do. | 2,280 | 743 | 1,390 | 1,930 | 6,930 | ||||||||
| Chromium chemicals | do. | 22,600 | 13,500 | 21,600 | 20,600 | 17,700 | ||||||||
| Chromium ferroalloys and metal | do. | 11,300 | 2,900 | 4,850 | 3,060 | 3,070 | ||||||||
| Stainless steel mill products and scrap | do. | 250,000 | 263,000 | 246,000 | 206,000 | 206,000 | ||||||||
| Stocks, January 1: | ||||||||||||||
| Government | do. | 105,000 | 8 | 129,000 | 115,000 | 111,000 | 107,000 | |||||||
| Industry7 | do. | 7,290 | 6,820 | 7,300 | 7,770 | r | 7,670 | |||||||
| Total | do. | 399,000 | 416,000 | 396,000 | 351,000 | r | 348,000 | |||||||
| Production, reported, chromium ferroalloy and metal net production9 | W | W | -- | -- | -- | |||||||||
| Consumption | ||||||||||||||
| Apparent, contained chromium | do. | 432,000 | 160,000 | 384,000 | 450,000 | r | 470,000 | |||||||
| Reported: | ||||||||||||||
| Chromite ore and concentrates, gross quantity | do. | W | W | W | W | W | ||||||||
| Chromium ferroalloys:10 | ||||||||||||||
| Gross weight | do. | 427,000 | 383,000 | 423,000 | 429,000 | r | 436,000 | |||||||
| Contained chromium | do. | 251,000 | 224,000 | 248,000 | 248,000 | r | 251,000 | |||||||
| Chromium metal, gross quantity | do. | 4,740 | 4,190 | 4,540 | 4,490 | r | 4,940 | |||||||
| Stocks, December 31, gross quantity: | ||||||||||||||
| Government | ||||||||||||||
| Chromite ore | do. | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||||||||
| Chromium ferroalloys | do. | 140,000 | 8 | 175,000 | 154,000 | 150,000 | 144,000 | |||||||
| Chromium metal | do. | 4,820 | 4,670 | 4,430 | 4,230 | 4,090 | ||||||||
| Industry: | ||||||||||||||
| Producer11 | do. | W | W | W | W | W | ||||||||
| Consumer: | ||||||||||||||
| Chromium ferroalloys12 | do. | 11,700 | 10,900 | 11,500 | 12,600 | r | 12,500 | |||||||
| Chromium metal | do. | 235 | 149 | 284 | 186 | r | 228 | |||||||
| Other | do. | 271 | r | 263 | 244 | r | 239 | r | 211 | |||||
| Prices, average annual: | ||||||||||||||
| Chromite ore13 | dollars per metric ton | 346 | 159 | 208 | 216 | 168 | ||||||||
| Ferrochromium, chromium content14 | dollars per pound | 1.79 | 0.81 | 1.17 | 1.15 | 1.08 | ||||||||
| Aluminothermic chromium metal, gross quantity15 | do. | 5.30 | 4.08 | 5.23 | 6.56 | 5.87 | ||||||||
| Value of trade:16 | ||||||||||||||
| Exports | thousands | $149,000 | $86,600 | $131,000 | $124,000 | $145,000 | ||||||||
| Imports | do. | $1,430,000 | $444,000 | $1,010,000 | $1,130,000 | $1,100,000 | ||||||||
| Net imports17 | do. | -1,280,000 | -358,000 | -884,000 | -1,010,000 | -952,000 | ||||||||
| See footnotes at end of table. | ||||||||||||||
| TABLE 1-Continued | ||||||||||||||
| SALIENT CHROMIUM STATISTICS1 | ||||||||||||||
| 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | ||||||||||
| U.S. supply:-Continued | ||||||||||||||
| Stainless steel: | ||||||||||||||
| Production: | ||||||||||||||
| Gross quantity18 | metric tons | 1,930,000 | 1,620,000 | 2,200,000 | 2,070,000 | 1,980,000 | ||||||||
| Contained chromium19 | do. | 324,000 | 276,000 | 383,000 | 353,000 | NA | ||||||||
| Average grade, dimensionless20 | 0.1684 | 0.1703 | 0.1738 | 0.1703 | NA | |||||||||
| Shipments, gross quantity21 | 1,380,000 | 1,200,000 | 1,510,000 | 1,890,000 | 1,900,000 | |||||||||
| Exports, gross quantity | 471,000 | 414,000 | 508,000 | 558,000 | 590,000 | |||||||||
| Imports, gross quantity | 783,000 | 416,000 | 585,000 | 605,000 | 668,000 | |||||||||
| Scrap, gross quantity: | ||||||||||||||
| Receipts | 858,000 | 832,000 | 846,000 | 866,000 | 858,000 | |||||||||
| Consumption | 1,330,000 | 1,260,000 | 1,280,000 | 1,300,000 | 1,300,000 | |||||||||
| Exports | 1,000,000 | 1,130,000 | 937,000 | 656,000 | 624,000 | |||||||||
| Imports | 140,000 | 124,000 | 195,000 | 169,000 | 155,000 | |||||||||
| Value of trade: | ||||||||||||||
| Exports | thousands | $2,300,000 | $1,450,000 | $2,120,000 | $2,510,000 | $2,380,000 | ||||||||
| Imports | do. | $4,040,000 | $1,710,000 | $2,310,000 | $2,650,000 | $2,690,000 | ||||||||
| Scrap exports | do. | $1,190,000 | $777,000 | $936,000 | $958,000 | $804,000 | ||||||||
| Scrap imports | do. | $217,000 | $138,000 | $305,000 | $295,000 | $236,000 | ||||||||
| Net imports17, 22 | do. | -$773,000 | $384,000 | $433,000 | $523,000 | $260,000 | ||||||||
| rRevised. do. Ditto. NA Not Available. W Withheld to avoid disclosing company proprietary data. -- Zero. | ||||||||||||||
| 1Data are rounded to no more than three significant digits; may not add to totals shown. | ||||||||||||||
| 2Calculated assuming chromite ore to average 45% Cr2O3, which is 68.42% chromium. | ||||||||||||||
| 3Calculated assuming chromium content of ferrochromium to average 57% chromium. | ||||||||||||||
| 4Calculated from American Iron and Steel Institute reported stainless steel production assuming chromium content of stainless steel to average 16.7% chromium. | ||||||||||||||
| 5Calculated assuming chromium content of stainless steel to average 17% chromium. | ||||||||||||||
| 6From January 1, 2009, to December 31, 2009, the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) made an accounting adjustment to low-carbon ferrochromium stocks- | ||||||||||||||
| making A35them (the stocks for those months) incompatible for the purpose of computing stock change for that year. January stocks were estimated. | ||||||||||||||
| 7Includes consumer stocks of chromium ferroalloys and metal and other chromium-containing materials. | ||||||||||||||
| 8From January 1, 2008, to December 31, 2008, the DLA changed its high-carbon and low-carbon ferrochromium stocks accounting method making them (the- | ||||||||||||||
| stocks for those months) incompatible for the purpose of computing stock change for that year. December stocks were estimated based on monthly stock- | ||||||||||||||
| changes excluding the accounting-change month. | ||||||||||||||
| 9Includes chromium ferroalloys and metal and other chromium materials in the United States. | ||||||||||||||
| 10Chromium ferroalloys, chromite ore, and other chromium-containing materials excluding chromium metal. | ||||||||||||||
| 11Chromium ferroalloys and metal producer stocks of chromium ferroalloys and metal. | ||||||||||||||
| 12Consumer stocks of high- and low-carbon ferrochromium and ferrochromium-silicon. | ||||||||||||||
| 13Time-weighted average price of South African chromite ore that contains 44% Cr2O3 free on board (f.o.b.) South Africa as reported in Ryanʼs Notes. | ||||||||||||||
| 14Time-weighted average U.S. price of imported high-carbon chromium that contains 49% to 51% chromium as reported in Ryanʼs Notes. | ||||||||||||||
| 15Annual average U.S. price of imported aluminothermic chromium metal as reported by Ryanʼs Notes. | ||||||||||||||
| 16Includes chromite ore and chromium ferroalloys, metal, and chemicals. | ||||||||||||||
| 17Negative data indicate that imports are greater than exports. | ||||||||||||||
| 18Source: American Iron and Steel Institute annual report of stainless and heat-resisting raw steel production and shipments. | ||||||||||||||
| 19Estimated mass-weighted average of the mean chromium content of stainless steel production by grade. Uncertainty is approximately -0.01, owing to the- | ||||||||||||||
| range of chromium chemical specification limits by stainless steel grade. | ||||||||||||||
| 20Ratio of estimated mass-weighted average chromium content of stainless steel production by grade to production. Expressed as a fraction. | ||||||||||||||
| 21Source: American Iron and Steel Institute annual report of stainless and heat-resisting raw steel shipments. | ||||||||||||||
| 22Includes stainless steel and stainless steel scrap. | ||||||||||||||
Source: United States Geological Survey Mineral Resources Program
See also: Mineral commodity prices
