According to the preliminary data released by the World Steel Association (worldsteel), global direct reduced iron (DRI) production in the first nine months of 2010 came to 42.76 million metric tons, compared to 39.13 million metric tons in the corresponding period of 2009.
Meanwhile, in September this year world DRI output totaled 4.81 million metric tons, compared to 4.66 million metric tons in August and 4.63 million metric tons in the same month of 2009.
The worldsteel data show that India was the largest DRI producer among the countries surveyed in September, with a DRI output of 1.76 million metric tons, as compared to the same level in August and 1.73 million metric tons in the same period of last year, followed by Iran, Saudi Arabia and Mexico.