Nickel is a globally traded metal with major roles in stainless steel, alloys and electric-vehicle batteries. The latest figures below separate mined nickel content, reserves, resources, consumption, benchmark prices and scenario forecasts so that each measure keeps its geography and time period clear.
Key Nickel Statistics
The most useful headline figures span supply, demand, markets and applications:
- In 2023, global mine production was estimated at 3,750,000 metric tons of nickel content.
- In 2024, global mine production was estimated at 3,700,000 metric tons of nickel content.
- In the 2025 USGS assessment, world nickel reserves exceeded 130,000,000 metric tons of nickel content.
- In the 2025 assessment, laterite deposits represented 54% of estimated global nickel resources.
- In 2024, Indonesia produced an estimated 2,200,000 metric tons of mined nickel content.
- In 2024, the Philippines produced an estimated 330,000 metric tons of mined nickel content.
- In 2024, Australia produced an estimated 110,000 metric tons of mined nickel content.
- In 2024, New Caledonia produced an estimated 110,000 metric tons of mined nickel content.
- In 2024, U.S. mine production was 7,490 metric tons of nickel content.
- In 2024, U.S. apparent primary nickel imports were 90,300 metric tons of nickel content.
- In 2024, U.S. net import reliance was 43% of apparent consumption.
- In 2024, the average annual LME nickel cash price was $16,812 per metric ton.
- In the USGS consumption split, about 65% of Western World nickel consumption went to austenitic stainless steel.
- In 2023, global EV-battery nickel demand was almost 370 kilotons.
- In 2023, EV-battery demand accounted for more than 10% of total nickel demand worldwide.
- In the IEA Announced Pledges Scenario, total nickel demand rises from 3,104 kilotons in 2023 to 4,754 kilotons in 2030.
- In 2023, the top three mining countries supplied 69% of nickel in the IEA milestone series.
- In the IEA risk assessment, nickel represented 6% of battery-pack cost in 2023.
Contents
- Global nickel production, reserves and resources
- Nickel production trends by leading countries
- U.S. nickel statistics: production, imports and prices
- Nickel uses, recycling and EV-battery demand
- Nickel supply concentration and refining data
- Nickel price trends and demand forecasts
Global Nickel Production, Reserves and Resources
USGS estimates put world mine production at 3,750,000 metric tons in 2023 and 3,700,000 metric tons in 2024. These values measure nickel content in mined material, rather than the gross weight of ore.
USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2025 reports the following global resource and reserve measures:
| Measure | Figure | Period and scope |
|---|---|---|
| Mine production | 3,750,000 metric tons | 2023, world, estimate |
| Mine production | 3,700,000 metric tons | 2024, world, estimate |
| Reserves | More than 130,000,000 metric tons | 2024 assessment, world, estimate |
| Resources | More than 350,000,000 metric tons | 2025 assessment, world, estimate |
Reserves are economically recoverable under stated conditions and are not the same as total resources. The resources estimate is broader and is not a forecast of recoverable annual output.
Deposit type also matters. Laterite deposits represented 54% of estimated global nickel resources in the 2025 assessment, while magmatic sulfide deposits represented 35%; these are shares of resources, not shares of annual mine production.
Nickel Production Trends by Leading Countries
Indonesia remained the largest country-level producer in the supplied USGS estimates, rising from 2,030,000 metric tons in 2023 to 2,200,000 metric tons in 2024, an increase reported as about 8%. Its estimated reserves were 55,000,000 metric tons in the 2025 USGS table, a reserve figure rather than annual capacity.
| Geography | 2023 mined nickel | 2024 mined nickel | Measurement |
|---|---|---|---|
| Indonesia | 2,030,000 metric tons | 2,200,000 metric tons | USGS estimate |
| Philippines | 413,000 metric tons | 330,000 metric tons | USGS estimate |
| Australia | 149,000 metric tons | 110,000 metric tons | USGS estimate |
| Canada | 159,000 metric tons | 190,000 metric tons | USGS estimate |
| New Caledonia | 231,000 metric tons | 110,000 metric tons | USGS estimate |
| Brazil | 82,700 metric tons | 77,000 metric tons | USGS estimate |
| Russia | — | 210,000 metric tons | 2024 estimate |
The year-to-year direction varied sharply. Australia’s 2024 output was reported as down about 26% from 2023, while New Caledonia’s was down about 52%, with unrest and market conditions affecting that estimate; Canada increased from 159,000 to 190,000 metric tons.
The Philippines declined from 413,000 metric tons in 2023 to 330,000 metric tons in 2024. Brazil moved from 82,700 to 77,000 metric tons, while Russia’s supplied 2024 estimate was 210,000 metric tons.
U.S. Nickel Statistics: Production, Imports and Prices
U.S. mine production fell from 18,400 metric tons in 2021 to 7,490 metric tons in 2024. The USGS also estimated 2025 production at 10,000 metric tons, which is not a final reported value.
| U.S. measure | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mine production, metric tons | 18,400 | 17,500 | 16,400 | 7,490 |
| Apparent primary imports, metric tons | 97,500 | 117,000 | 98,500 | 90,300 |
| Net import reliance | 38% | 43% | 41% | 43% |
These are distinct USGS measures. Apparent primary imports are not total nickel-containing imports, and net import reliance is expressed as a share of defined apparent consumption, including the specified primary and secondary flows.
The average annual London Metal Exchange nickel cash price was $18,476 per metric ton in 2021, $25,815 in 2022, $21,495 in 2023 and $16,812 in 2024. This is an annual benchmark cash price, not a retail or contract price.
The U.S. series is therefore best read as a combination of domestic mine output, apparent primary imports, reliance and benchmark pricing—not as a single measure of physical availability.
Source: USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Nickel.
Nickel Uses, Recycling and EV-Battery Demand
The USGS consumption split describes the Western World, not a current global end-use survey. About 65% of Western World nickel consumption was used for austenitic stainless steel, about 12% went into superalloys or nonferrous alloys, and the remaining 23% was divided among alloy steels, rechargeable batteries, catalysts, chemicals, coinage, foundry products and plating.
The residual 23% is a grouped category, so the supplied figures do not quantify each of those applications separately. This distinction is important when comparing stainless-steel demand with battery demand.
IEA analysis estimated global EV-battery nickel demand at almost 370 kilotons in 2023, after growth of nearly 30% from 2022 to 2023. EV-battery demand accounted for more than 10% of total nickel demand worldwide in 2023, while the figure does not cover all battery applications.
The same IEA assessment estimated that global nickel supply exceeded demand by 8% in 2023. That market-balance estimate concerns the world nickel market and should not be interpreted as a measure of surplus in every country or product form.
Sources: USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Nickel and IEA, Trends in electric vehicle batteries: Global EV Outlook 2024.
Nickel Supply Concentration and Refining Data
The IEA’s Announced Pledges Scenario, or APS, separates total demand from clean-technology demand and from secondary supply and reuse. It projects total nickel demand rising from 3,104 kilotons in 2023 to 4,754 kilotons in 2030, reaching 6,238 kilotons in 2040.
| IEA APS measure | 2023 | 2030 | 2040 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total nickel demand | 3,104 kt | 4,754 kt | 6,238 kt |
| Clean-technology nickel demand | 478 kt | 1,953 kt | — |
| Secondary supply and reuse | 43 kt | 139 kt | — |
These are scenario projections, not guaranteed outcomes. Clean-technology demand is a separate category from total nickel demand, and secondary supply and reuse is not the same as all recycled material in every market.
Supply concentration is already high in the IEA milestone series. The top three mining countries supplied 69% of nickel in 2023, and the APS projects that the top three will account for 83% of mining in 2040; one country is projected to represent 61% of mining in 2030 in the IEA risk assessment.
The top three refining countries accounted for 71% of nickel refining in 2023. Secondary supply represented 1% of nickel supply in the IEA current-state risk indicator published in 2024.
Nickel represented 6% of battery-pack cost in 2023 in the IEA risk assessment. The average grid carbon intensity for nickel refining was 603 grams of CO2 per kilowatt-hour, an electricity-intensity indicator rather than lifecycle emissions per ton of nickel.
Source: IEA, Nickel: Outlook for key energy transition minerals.
Nickel Price Trends and Demand Forecasts
World Bank outlooks show a market that moved sharply after the 2022 price level. Nickel prices fell 12% quarter over quarter in 2024 Q3, and the October 2024 outlook described 2024 prices as about 30% lower than their 2022 level.
Forecast vintages should be kept separate because they are expectations made at different dates:
- The October 2024 World Bank outlook expected nickel prices to fall 21% year over year in 2024.
- That October 2024 outlook forecast a 3% rebound in 2025, a forecast later superseded or revised by later outlooks.
- The April 2025 World Bank outlook forecast nickel prices to fall 6% in 2025 and rise 1% in 2026.
- The World Bank reported that nickel prices fell 2% quarter over quarter in 2025 Q1, reaching their lowest level since 2020; the supplied statistic does not give an exact price.
The April 2025 figures are forecasts, while the 2025 Q1 movement is an observed quarterly benchmark change. Neither should be combined with the LME annual averages as though they used the same price series or measurement interval.
Sources: World Bank, Commodity Markets Outlook, October 2024 and World Bank, Commodity Markets Outlook, April 2025.