worldsteel: DRI Output Hit 7.5 Mt in January

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The preliminary data published by the World Steel Association (worldsteel) indicates that the worldwide production of direct reduced iron (DRI) totaled 7.5 million metric tons (Mt) in the opening month of 2019.

The top three DRI producers during the month were India, Iran and Egypt. The cumulative output by the above three countries totaled 5.67 Mt, accounting for nearly 76% of the world production during the month. India continued to be the leading DRI producer with estimated output of 2.625 Mt. Iran’s DRI output totaled 2.530 Mt, whereas Egypt recorded an output of 515,000 tonnes. The monthly output (in thousand tonnes) by other top nine DRI producing countries is as follows: Canada (142), Saudi Arabia (320), Argentina (140), Venezuela (20), Mexico (500), Libya (52), South Africa (80), Qatar (240) and United Arab Emirates (336).

The monthly output climbed higher by more than 5% in January this year. This is when compared with the output during Dec ’18. The DRI production had totaled only 7.115 Mt in December 2018.

The world DRI ouput had totaled 84.102 Mt in the whole year 2018. India was the leading producer with an output totaling 30.368 Mt, closely followed by Iran with a yearly output of 25.540 Mt. The combined production by these two countries accounted for almost 67% of the global DRI production during the year. In third place was Mexico, which recorded an output of 5.990 Mt.