According to the preliminary data released by the World Steel Association (worldsteel), global direct reduced iron (DRI) production in the 11 countries accounting for approximately 83 percent of total world DRI production, came to 15.5 million metric tons in the first three months of this year, decreasing by 1.8 percent compared to the corresponding period of 2011.
Meanwhile, in March this year world DRI output totaled 5.3 million metric tons, increasing nine percent as compared to the previous month and up by two percent year on year.
The worldsteel data show that India was the largest DRI producer among the countries surveyed in March and in the first quarter this year. India's DRI output was 2.5 million metric tons in March, increasing 11 percent compared to February levels and up 15.5 percent year on year. India was followed by Iran and Saudi Arabia, with outputs of 872,000 mt and 478,000 mt respectively.