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 20.4 million metric tons in the first four months of this year, decreasing by 3.16 percent compared to the corresponding period of 2011.
Meanwhile, in April this year world DRI output totaled 5 million metric tons, decreasing 6.9 percent as compared to the previous month and down by 7.3 percent year on year.
The worldsteel data show that India was the largest DRI producer among the countries surveyed in April and in the first four months of this year. India's DRI output was 2.4 million metric tons in April, decreasing three percent compared to March levels and up 8.8 percent year on year. India was followed by Iran and Venezuela, with outputs of 840,000 mt and 370,000 mt respectively.