India becomes top DRI producing country in 2018

DRI production in the countries of the world increased slightly in the month of December last year. India became the largest DRI producer within a year, according to DRI production statistics published by the World Steel Association (worldsteel). This is followed by Iran and Mexico.

DRI production in India was 30.368 million tons, followed by Iran, with an annual production of 25.540 million tons. Aggregate production in these two countries accounted for almost 67% of global DRI production during the year. In third place was Mexico, which recorded an output of 5.990 million tons.

Annual production (thousand tonnes) for the other nine DRI producing countries is: Canada (1670), Saudi Arabia (4989), Argentina (1606), Venezuela (442), Mexico (5990), Libya (600), South Africa (835), Qatar (2,526) and the United Arab Emirates (3784).

DRI production in the countries of the world increased slightly in the month of December last year. Over the previous month, production increased by 1.2%. Monthly production was 7.115 Mt in December 18, up from 7.034 Mt in November 2018. Production was maintained above 7 million tonnes for the fourth straight month.

The leading DRI producers in December 18 were India, Iran and Mexico. The volume of production in India in December 1818 was 2.457 million tons, and in Iran - about 2.300 million tons. Mexican production of around 520,000 metric tons reported a healthy recovery from the previous month. Together, the top three manufacturers accounted for nearly three quarters of global production.