Global DRI production increased by 7% y/y in 2023

Global direct reduced iron (DRI) production in 2023 increased by 7.4% compared to 2022 – to 135.51 million tonnes from 126.16 million tonnes a year earlier. This is evidenced by data from the WorldSteel Association, Kallanish reports.

India accounted for over 36% of the total DRI production. During the year, Indian companies produced 49.33 million tons of the product, which is 16.7% more than in 2022. Iran, the second largest DRI producer, increased its output by 1.7% y/y – to 33.45 million tons. The share of Iranian DRI in global production was 24.7%. Together, these countries account for about 61.1% of global DRI production.

The Russian Federation, Egypt and Saudi Arabia had a share of 5.7%, 5.3% and 5%, respectively, in global DRI production.

Over the past year, Russia produced 7.78 million tons (+0.9% y/y) of direct reduced iron, Egypt – 7.22 million tons (+19.9%), and Saudi Arabia – 6.81 million tons (+1.5%).

In 2023, the United States reduced DRI production by 0.8% y/y – to 5.24 million tons, Mexico – by 11.6% y/y, to 5.16 million tons, Algeria – increased by 3.1% y/y, to 4 million tons, the UAE – also increased by 4.2% y/y, to 3.59 million tons.

In 2022, global direct reduced iron production increased by 6.9% – to 127.36 million tons. In 2021, these volumes amounted to 119.2 million tons. Midrex plants are the world’s largest supplier of DRI, accounting for almost 80% of global annual production in 2022.

According to World Steel Dynamics, global DRI production is expected to grow by 56.2% by 2030 compared to the base year of 2019 and by 40% compared to 2022, to 175 million tons. The largest growth in DRI production is expected in the European Union and MENA countries.