Nickel Pig Iron (NPI) & Ferronickel (8–15% Ni NPI, 20–40% Ni FeNi)

High-grade NPI at 8–15% Ni and ferronickel at 20–40% Ni, bought per nickel unit or against LME nickel for stainless steel melting

Nickel pig iron (NPI) and ferronickel are the iron-nickel alloys that stainless steel producers melt for their nickel units, and the nickel content decides which product is on offer. High-grade NPI runs at 8–15% Ni: Fastmarkets assesses NPI at 10–15% Ni delivered duty paid China and at 10–14% Ni FOB Indonesia and CIF China, its CIF basis being lump at 80% Fe with phosphorus at 0.04% max, sulphur at 0.4% max, silicon at 4.5% max and carbon at 4% max in lots of at least 500 MT, and SMM publishes a high-grade NPI price in yuan per nickel unit ex-factory China and an Indonesian NPI FOB index in US dollars per nickel unit. Ferronickel carries 20–40% Ni, and Fastmarkets assesses it at 20–25% Ni and 26–32% Ni CIF China. Under the chapter 72 notes of the Harmonized System a ferro-alloy carries more than 10% of other elements such as nickel and pig iron no more than 10%, so ferronickel and higher-nickel NPI are declared under HS 7202.60 and lower-nickel NPI can fall under 7201.50, alloy pig iron. UN Comtrade 2024 export declarations under HS 7202.60 total USD 15.66 billion and about 10.13 million MT across 33 reporters: Indonesia USD 14.06 billion and 9.67 million MT, 94% of the value to China, then Brazil at USD 581 million and 173,700 MT and Colombia at USD 542 million and 151,500 MT. Indonesian NPI comes from rotary kiln electric furnace (RKEF) lines in the Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park in Central Sulawesi and the Indonesia Weda Bay Industrial Park in North Maluku, fed with laterite ore that has been banned from export since January 2020 and is mined under annual RKAB quotas, set at 260–270 million wet MT for 2026 against 379 million wet MT approved for 2025. Outside Indonesia, the Doniambo smelter in Nouméa, New Caledonia, produces ferronickel shot; Brazil's Barro Alto and Codemin ferronickel operations produced 39,400 MT of nickel in 2024, and their sale to MMG was awaiting EU clearance in September 2026; and Colombia's Cerro Matoso, sold by South32 in December 2025, cut output by 25% from 1 July 2026 after its gas supply was reduced.

The buyer is a stainless steel producer or melt shop, or a trader with mill offtake, in China, India, Korea or Europe, and the offer is a price per nickel unit or a discount to the LME nickel price for a stated nickel, iron, phosphorus, sulphur, silicon and carbon sheet, form and lot. That discount moves with the market: South32 reported its Cerro Matoso ferronickel at about 10% under the LME nickel index in the March 2021 quarter and 29% under it in the December 2023 quarter. CBIL is a commodity brokerage company and brokers NPI and ferronickel from producer and trader allocations against an independent assay of Ni, Fe, P, S, Si and C, weights, the producer's certificate of analysis and a certificate of origin. Indonesian lots carry their own export file: Trade Minister Regulation 17/2026 routes ferroalloy exports, ferronickel included, through the state exporter Danantara Sumberdaya Indonesia, with a surveyor's report per shipment during the transition that opened on 1 June 2026 and full state-exporter control from 1 January 2027. Ministers said in May 2026 that NPI stays outside the scheme for now, but NPI and ferronickel share HS 7202.60 and no formal definition separates them, so the export route of each lot is confirmed before the contract. An export duty on NPI, ferronickel, matte and MHP, approved in principle in March 2026, was postponed on 11 May 2026. US and EU buyers also read the labour and power record: the US Department of Labor lists nickel from Indonesia as produced with forced labour, the EU Forced Labour Regulation applies from 14 December 2027, and captive coal capacity was reported at about 3.4 GW at the Weda Bay park and 2.6 GW at the Morowali park, so the file follows the OECD five-step due diligence framework with the smelter and its power source named. NPI and ferronickel move mostly in bulk carriers, as most of Indonesia's processed nickel does, on FOB, CFR and CIF terms. Send the nickel grade, impurity limits, form, tonnage and discharge port, and the enquiry is screened and worked against it.

Excluded origins are not offered, including product re-exported, blended or re-processed through a third country. Every lot moves with a certificate of origin naming the producing plant, mine or grower country, and nothing is quoted before the seller and loading point are known.