China: High carbon ferro chrome imports plunge 33% in 2025

• South Africa smelter shutdowns disrupt global supply
• Import dependence falls amid rising local production

MySteel Global: China’s imports of high-carbon ferro chrome fell to 2.45 million tonnes in 2025, marking a sharp year-on-year decline of 33.2%, according to data released by the General Administration of Customs (GACC).
This significant drop is attributed to a major shift in global supply chains and robust domestic smelting capacity replacing imports, Mysteel Global noted.

A primary cause was the severe disruption of overseas supply, particularly from South Africa, which had historically dominated China’s imports.

In 2025, major producers including the Glencore-Merafe joint venture suspended operations at key smelters such as Boshoek, Wonderkop and Lion, due to crippling electricity costs and operational pressures, as reported. Consequently, ferro chrome imports from South Africa plummeted 47.5% on year to 956,200 tonnes in 2025.

This production halt in South Africa rerouted the supply chain. Instead of processing chrome ore into ferro chrome domestically, the country exported more raw material directly to China. This is evidenced by GACC data showing China’s chrome ore imports from South Africa increased 15% on year to 19.57 million tonnes in 2025, also as reported.

Meanwhile, China’s own HC ferro chrome output expanded rapidly to fill the gap. Domestic HC ferro chrome production reached a record high last year and exceeded 9 million tonnes, according to Mysteel data. This massive domestic supply directly substituted imports, a trend also reflected in a 16.6% year-on-year decrease in imports of the ferro alloy from Kazakhstan to 1.03 million tonnes last year.

The import weakness persisted into December. Total HC ferro chrome imports for the month stood at 126,900 tonnes, up 0.8% on month but down 51.1% year-on-year, the GACC statistics show. Imports from South Africa collapsed by 73.8% on month and 87.6% from December 2024 to just 1,081 tonnes. Nonetheless, shipments from Kazakhstan amounted to approximately 90,000 tonnes, up 8.9% on month and 7.5% on year.

Note: This article has been written in accordance with a content exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and BigMint.