Stainless Steel
A corrosion-resistant alloy of iron, chromium and nickel; nickel pig iron is a lower-cost nickel input widely used in its production, particularly in China and Indonesia.
Covered in 10 MetalsCost.com News Intelligence articles, most recently on October 16, 2026.
Overview
Stainless steel is an iron alloy defined by a minimum chromium content of around 10.5% — the threshold at which chromium forms a thin, self-healing oxide layer that gives the alloy its corrosion resistance. Global production keeps climbing: melt-shop output reached 64.2 million tonnes in 2025, up 2.1% on the year, overwhelmingly concentrated in Asia — China alone produced nearly 41 million tonnes, close to two-thirds of the world total.
Metals It Depends On
Nickel turns a plain chromium steel into austenitic stainless steel, the most common family — it stabilizes the alloy's crystal structure, improving ductility and corrosion resistance well beyond chromium alone. Rather than buying refined nickel metal, most of the industry's growth has come through nickel pig iron (NPI), a cheaper, lower-purity nickel-iron alloy smelted directly from laterite ore; Indonesia, now the source of roughly two-thirds of the world's mined nickel, has become the centre of gravity for both NPI and the integrated stainless capacity built around it.
Sources
- Global stainless steel melt-shop production reached 64.2 million tonnes in 2025 — Stainless steel melt shop production increases by 2.1% in 2025 (2025)
- Indonesia's ~66% share of global nickel mine output — The world nickel market in 2025 and 2026 (2025)
Coverage
Nickel Surplus Shrinks to 19,000 Tonnes This Year Before Widening in 2027, INSG Says
Growing output supports nickel use, while a continued surplus keeps supply ample.
Anglo American Warns Its Brazil Nickel Mines Could Close if the EU Blocks the MMG Sale
Either a Chinese owner or a shutdown could reduce ferronickel available to European mills.
Indonesia Considers a Moratorium on New Plants Making Semi-Finished Nickel
Slower nickel pig iron growth could raise stainless steel input costs.
Sumitomo Metal Mining Expects the Nickel Market to Stay in Surplus in 2027
More nickel pig iron eases the shortage of Class 2 nickel.
Molybdenum Use Rises 8% While Mine Output Falls 3% in Q2, IMOA Data Shows
Tighter molybdenum supply can raise costs for stainless and alloy steel producers.
Will Indonesia's Nickel Quota Finally Work as Monsoon Hits Philippine Ore?
Indonesia's nickel mining quota has not lifted prices because smelters kept importing ore from the Philippines, but that ore's output falls sharply each monsoon, and LME nickel is trading 16% below its May peak while traders wait for a real supply squeeze.
Indonesia's Morowali Nickel Hub Cuts NPI Output on El Niño Drought
Indonesia's Morowali Industrial Park has ordered nickel pig iron producers to cut output after an El Niño-driven drought cut cooling-water supplies, a reduction estimated at 100,000 tonnes that helped push LME nickel back above $16,600 a tonne.
Indonesia Cut Its Nickel Mining Quota by 30%, But Prices Are Still Falling and Smelters Are Idling
Lower RKEF utilization in Indonesia trims the nickel pig iron supply that feeds stainless steel producers, but rising Philippine ore imports have so far kept overall Indonesian ore availability from tightening sharply.
Nickel Prices Are Falling, But EV Battery Demand Jumped 37% This Year
A narrowing NPI-to-LME discount raises the relative cost of nickel pig iron, the primary nickel input for stainless steel production, even as headline nickel prices fell.
Nickel Industries' Hengjaya Mine Earnings Jump 58% as New Nickel-Cobalt Plant Starts Production
Nickel Industries' RKEF segment, which produces nickel pig iron for the stainless steel industry, saw contained-nickel output fall 8% and Adjusted EBITDA drop 30% as unit costs rose faster than sale prices.
