Iranian iron ore plants produced 1.25 million tons of direct reduced iron in August, registering a 5.46% rise year-on-year, the World Steel Association reported. Iran’s rising DRI output comes against the background of a global decline, as worldwide production dropped 6% to 4.14 million tons in August. This brings Iran’s eight-month sponge iron production to 10.4 million tons, up 5.7% compared with last year’s corresponding period. The WSA data show Iran remains the world’s biggest DRI producer, outdoing India, the holder of the top position last year. Iran first took over India after the release of WSA’s DRI output for March. World Steel Association’s production figures are based on data collected from 14 countries, which accounted for approximately 90% of the global DRI production in 2014. Direct reduced iron, also known as sponge iron, is produced from direct reduction of iron ore in the form of lumps, pellets or fines by a reducing gas.
