According to the preliminary data released by the World Steel Association (worldsteel), global direct reduced iron (DRI) production in the 10 countries accounting for approximately 70 percent of total world DRI production, came to 8.6 million metric tons in the first two months of this year, decreasing by 18.45 percent compared to the corresponding period of 2011. On the other hand, the January-February production figure of Iran, the world's second largest DRI producer in 2011, has not been reported yet.
Meanwhile, in February this year world DRI output totaled 4.17 million metric tons, decreasing five percent as compared to the previous month and down by 17.7 percent year on year.
The worldsteel data show that India was the largest DRI producer among the countries surveyed in February this year. India's DRI output was 2.25 million metric tons in February, decreasing six percent compared to January levels and up five percent year on year. India was followed by Mexico and Saudi Arabia, with outputs of 460,000 mt and 400,000 mt respectively.