Direct Reduced Iron (DRI)
Iron produced by reducing iron ore to metallic iron without melting it, typically using natural gas or hydrogen, used as a lower-carbon alternative to blast-furnace ironmaking.
Covered in 1 MetalsCost.com News Intelligence article, most recently on August 29, 2026.
Overview
Direct reduced iron is made by stripping oxygen from iron ore using a reducing gas — natural gas or, increasingly, hydrogen — at temperatures high enough to convert the ore to metallic iron but not high enough to melt it, leaving a porous solid rather than liquid metal. That solid-state route skips the coke and blast furnace of conventional ironmaking, which is why DRI is positioned as a lower-carbon path to steel, especially as producers experiment with hydrogen instead of natural gas as the reducing agent.
Global Production
World DRI output reached 144.1 million tonnes in 2024, up 3.9% from the prior year, with India alone accounting for roughly 38% of that at 54.8 Mt — driven mainly by coal-based rotary-kiln production (commonly called sponge iron) alongside growing natural-gas-based capacity. Because DRI is porous and prone to reoxidizing, much of it destined for export or storage is compacted into hot briquetted iron (HBI) instead of shipped loose. DRI's main destination is the electric arc furnace, where it substitutes for or supplements scrap steel.
Sources
- 2024 global and India DRI production figures — FEATURE: Global DRI production on the rise, yet China lags behind (2025)
