In the early part of the year many plants were idled or running at minimal capacities, but production began to ramp up in the 2nd half and in particular the 4th quarter of the year. The 2009 trends still show that DRI usage is gaining popularity despite reduced world steel production and consumption.   The 9% decrease in DRI production can be juxtaposed against Blast Furnace production (outside of China) which dropped by 22% in 2009 from the previous year.

While the overall total production of DRI decreased, India and Iran did grow in this period.  Growth was due in part to the ramping up to production of new shaft furnace plants in Iran and rotary kilns in India. Once again, India led all nations, making 22 million tons with Iran in second place, producing more than 8 million tons.  Venezuela, which had long been the leading producer produced between 5 and 6 million tons based on initial data and substantial drop from the nearly 7 million produced in 2008.  

Sourced from www.midrex.com