DRI/HBI: Production and Trends

摘要

Direct Reduction Iron (DRI), also known as sponge iron, production since 2010 has grown at an average rate of2%. Production growth has roughly followed iron ore supply growth. Capacity utilisation has been falling since2010 from 70% to 60%. The decline in utilisation is a result of declining production from India’s rotating kilns thatuse coal to create reductant gas and an increase in the use of MIDREX technology. MIDREX plant can be runefficiently at levels below capacity thus providing operators flexibility to meet demand. The declining utilisationtrend is expected to reverse over medium term as demand for DRI increases and an increasing proportion newplants are commissioned primarily in the Middle East and idle older coal based plants are permanently closed.