The first three quarters of the global blast furnace pig iron, direct reduction of iron output are down

According to the statistics of the World Iron and Steel Association, in the first three quarters of 2020, the pig iron output of blast furnace in 38 countries and regions was 967 million tons, down 2.1% year on year, including 109 million tons in September, up 1.6% year on year.In 2018, the 38 countries and regions accounted for 99 percent of the world's blast furnace pig iron production.

In the first three quarters of this year, the output of direct reduced iron in 12 countries is 619.985mt, down 10.1% year on year, among which the output in September is 6.843 mt, down 10.4% year on year.In 2018, these 12 countries accounted for about 85 percent of global direct reduction iron production.

In the first three quarters, the country producing the most direct reduced iron remained India, at 23.605 million tonnes, down 13.0 per cent year on year, including 2.785 million tonnes in September, down 3.2 per cent year on year.Iran's direct reduction iron output in the first three quarters was second only to India's at 22,187,000 tonnes, up 5.2 per cent year on year and the largest of the 12 countries, but its output in September is estimated to have fallen by 12.9 per cent year on year to 2.3m tonnes.Egypt was one of two countries, excluding Iran, to report an increase in direct reduced iron production in the first three quarters, up 1.4 per cent year on year to 3.776 million tonnes and surging 110.4 per cent to 331,000 tonnes in September.

In the first three quarters, the biggest drop in direct reduced iron production was in South Africa, where output fell 79.7 per cent year-on-year to just 120,000 tonnes, including an estimated 21,000 tonnes in September, down 24.8 per cent year-on-year.In the first three quarters of this year, Qatar's direct reduced iron output fell by 63.8 per cent to 638,000 tonnes, including 47,000 tonnes in September, down 79.2 per cent year-on-year.In the first three quarters, Argentina's direct reduced iron output fell 55.4 per cent year-on-year to 358,000 tonnes, including a drop of 89.8 per cent year-on-year to 13,000 tonnes in September.In the first three quarters, Venezuela's direct reduced iron output was 219,000 tonnes, down 36.2 per cent year on year, including an estimated 20,000 tonnes in September, down 29.3 per cent year on year.In the first three quarters, Canadian direct reduction iron production was 766,000 tons, down 32.1% year on year, including 121,000 tons in September, down 17.3% year on year.In addition, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, the United Arab Emirates and Libya produced 3.906 million tons, 3.742 million tons, 214,900 tons and 519,000 tons respectively, down 13.4 percent, 16.8 percent, 21.2 percent and 13.9 percent, respectively.