According to the preliminary data released by the World Steel Association (worldsteel), global direct reduced iron (DRI) production in the 14 countries accounting for approximately 82 percent of total world DRI production in 2012 amounted to 5.5 million metric tons in September this year, remaining almost unchanged as compared to the previous month and up by 20.2 percent year on year.
Meanwhile, world DRI output came to 47.9 million metric tons in the first nine months of this year, increasing by 15.4 percent compared to the corresponding period of 2012.
The worldsteel data show that India was again the largest DRI producer among the countries surveyed in September this year. India's estimated DRI output was 1.5 million metric tons in the given month, decreasing by 9.7 percent year on year. India was followed by Iran, Mexico and Saudi Arabia in September, with estimated outputs of 1.27 million mt, 575,000 mt and 450,000 mt respectively.