Stainless steel industry/TU Berlin study on raw material security.
TU Berlin study on the “real” availability of chrome, nickel, iron, and scrap, taking economic factors into consideration.
The sole focus on geological reserves is insufficient for the assessment of the supply reliability.
Increasing demand and access to recycling material most important variables for the availability of chrome, nickel, and iron for the stainless steel industry.
Chrome is the raw material for the stainless steel production, the future economic availability of which is most critical for the stainless steel industry, by far. The availability of chrome, one of the main components of stainless steel, is even less than the one of crude oil which is generally considered a scarce commodity. This is the result determined by the team of Prof. Dr. Matthias Finkbeiner of the TU Berlin which scientifically researched the factors other than the geological reserves influencing the availability of the main stainless steel elements nickel, chrome, and iron on behalf of the German-Dutch raw material trading group Oryx Stainless. Being an important secondary raw material source, stainless steel scrap which is used with an average share of 50 percent for the production of new stainless steel today was also incorporated in the study.
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