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 in 2010 totaled 4.38 million metric tons in September this year, decreasing 3.1 percent as compared to the previous month and down by 15 percent year on year.
Meanwhile, world DRI output came to 42.14 million metric tons in the first nine months of this year, decreasing by 11.5 percent compared to the corresponding period of 2011.
The worldsteel data show that India was the largest DRI producer among the countries surveyed in September and in the January-September period of this year. India's estimated DRI output was 15 million metric tons in the first nine months of this year, down 27 percent year on year. India was followed by Iran, Mexico and Saudi Arabia in the first nine months of the year, with estimated outputs of 8.3 million mt, 4.1 million mt and 3.8 million mt respectively.