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 totaled 4.7 million metric tons in July this year, increasing 1.3 percent as compared to the previous month and down by 12.5 percent year on year.
Meanwhile, world DRI output came to 32.3 million metric tons in the first seven months of this year, decreasing by 13 percent compared to the corresponding period of 2011.
The worldsteel data show that India was the largest DRI producer among the countries surveyed in July and in the January-July period of this year. India's estimated DRI output was 11.8 million metric tons in the first seven months of this year, down 26 percent year on year. India was followed by Iran, Mexico and Saudi Arabia in the first seven months of the year, with estimated outputs of 6.4 million mt, 3.2 million mt and 3 million mt respectively.