Iran replaces India as largest DRI producer in April 2014

Worldsteel announced that DRI (Direct Reduced Iron) production in 14 countries, which produced 87 percent of the world's total last year, fell by almost 6 percent YoY in April 2014 to 4.839 million tonnes.

However, sponge iron production for the period from January to April 2014 was 19.095 million tonnes and remained at the same level compared to the first quarter of 2013.

India, the world's largest producer of DRI, reported a 13 percent YoY decline in production in April 2014, although it was originally projected to grow 4 percent YoY for the first 4 months.

On the other hand, Iran is knocking on doors and intends to become the world leader in the production of sponge iron with 1.2450 million tons, surpassing its previous result of 1.240 million tons for the first time.

POSCO in Korea and Tuwairqi Group in Saudi Arabia signed a memorandum of understanding for a further $ 900 million investment in a project to establish a DRI plant capacity of 1.28 million tonnes per year.

DRI is the best raw material for steel production and is a new product in the Pakistani market and this country also has its own ambitious plans in this area. Steel smelting is now entirely dependent on re-smelting scrap steel, which yields lower product quality than DRI for steel products.