Egypt, the largest producer of direct-reduced iron (DRI) in Northern Africa, will increase its output further in 2019, Fastmarkets heard at the North Africa Iron & Steel Summit in Cairo on April 16-17.
In 2019, DRI production in Egypt may reach 6.6 million tonnes, one steel producer in the country estimated, depending on the balance between the supply of natural gas to power the smelting process and growing steel output.In 2018, Egypt produced 5.75 million tonnes of DRI, according to the World Steel Association (Worldsteel). This was an increase of 23% compared with 2017, when output was 4.67 million tonnes.Egypt produced 1.1 million tonnes of DRI in January-February 2019, Worldsteel said. That was a 16.63% increase against the corresponding period in 2018."DRI production was suffering in Egypt due to a drop of natural gas supply....