According to the data released by the World Steel Association (worldsteel), global direct reduced iron (DRI)
production in the 14 countries accounting for approximately 87 percent of total world DRI
production in 2013 amounted to 5 million metric tons in December 2014, increasing by 2.4 percent year on year and down 1.3 percent month on month.
Meanwhile, world DRI output came to 60.52 million metric tons in 2014, declining by 4.7 percent compared to the previous year.
The worldsteel data show that India was the largest DRI producer among the countries surveyed in December 2014. India's estimated DRI output was 1.43 million metric tons in the given month, decreasing by 6.15 percent year on year. India was followed by Iran, Saudi Arabia and Mexico in December, with estimated outputs of 1.2 million mt, 523,000 mt and 445,000 mt respectively.