What does the Nickel production data show?

Nickel-production figures describe where this widely used industrial metal comes out of the ground, feeding construction, manufacturing, and infrastructure worldwide. Because base metals are produced and consumed at large volume, a shift in mine output from a major producer can move global prices even though the metal itself is not geologically scarce. Production of Nickel is moderately concentrated: Indonesia leads, but several other countries contribute meaningfully to global mine output, spreading supply risk without eliminating it. Reported tonnages come from national geological surveys and industry returns and are revised as new figures arrive.

Nickel is classified by the U.S. Geological Survey as a base metal. Used in stainless steel, EV batteries, and corrosion-resistant alloys. Indonesia has rapidly become the dominant producer due to laterite ore processing. Global mine production in 2023 was approximately 3.3 Mt thousand metric tons. 7 countries with reported production appear in the table above, covering essentially the full global mine supply.

Indonesia is the world's leading producer of Nickel, accounting for roughly 55% of global mine output. The top three producers together control 71% of global supply and the top five hold 80%, making the market moderately concentrated. Leading producers are Indonesia, Philippines, Russia, Canada, Australia. High concentration means prices and availability can move sharply on political events, export restrictions, or mine outages in one country, which is why these production shares sit at the heart of critical-minerals policy in the United States, the European Union, and Japan.

The United States imports approximately 42% of the Nickel it consumes, a figure the USGS publishes as "net import reliance as a percentage of apparent consumption" and updates annually. Click any country in the production table to open its full country profile, population, GDP, development indicators, and the full set of minerals it produces, so you can see the broader economic context behind the production share. All figures on this page are USGS estimates for data year 2023, released in the 2024 Mineral Commodity Summaries, and they supersede earlier preliminary estimates.