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 27.2 million metric tons in the first half of this year, decreasing by 14 percent compared to the corresponding period of 2011.
Meanwhile, in June this year world DRI output totaled 4.6 million metric tons, decreasing 1.8 percent as compared to the previous month and down by 11.9 percent year on year.
The worldsteel data show that India was the largest DRI producer among the countries surveyed in June and in the first half of this year. India's estimated DRI output was 10 million metric tons in the first half this year, down 25.5 percent year on year. India was followed by Iran, Mexico and Saudi Arabia in the first half of the year, with estimated outputs of 5.5 million mt, 2.7 million mt and 2.6 million mt respectively.