Of the total, 40.733 Mt was confirmed from MIDREX Plants located outside Iran, Russia, and Venezuela, while the remaining 41.437 Mt was estimated for plants in those three countries, based on data reported by the World Steel Association (worldsteel).
Production of hot DRI (HDRI) exceeded 12.8 Mt in 2025. This material was consumed primarily at adjacent steelmaking facilities, where its use lowered energy consumption per ton of steel and improved overall productivity.
Cumulative output from MIDREX Plants has now surpassed 1.558 billion tons of DRI in all forms — cold DRI (CDRI), hot DRI (HDRI), and hot briquetted iron (HBI) — since the technology’s introduction.
Strong Operational Performance Across the Fleet
Globally, at least eight MIDREX Modules set new annual production records and at least seven set new monthly records. Twelve modules operated within 10% of their annual production record, and ten modules exceeded 8,000 operating hours during the year.
The Venezuelan plants — COMSIGUA, Ferrominera Orinoco, Sidor, and Venprecar — operated at reduced capacity in 2025, though most production data from these sites was unavailable. No detailed production figures were received from plants in Iran or Russia.
The following plants did not operate in 2025 due to commercial or market conditions: ArcelorMittal South Africa (Saldanha Works), Delta Steel (Nigeria), ESISCO (Egypt), Lion DRI (Malaysia), NSCL/National Steel Complex Ltd., formerly Tuwairqi Steel Mills (Pakistan), and TT Iron Steel Company Ltd., formerly AM Point Lisas (Trinidad and Tobago).
Plant Highlights
In its fourth full year of operation, Algerian Qatari Steel (AQS) continued ramping up production to meet its steel shop’s requirements, setting new annual records for production, productivity, electricity consumption, and operating time, and breaking its monthly production record in May. AQS also recorded the highest carbon value of any HDRI plant in 2025, at 2.79%.
At Antara Steel Mills, the first MIDREX HBI module — in operation since August 1984 — ran 13% above its annual rated capacity. The plant achieved the highest total iron content of any MIDREX plant in 2025, averaging 92.5% total Fe, and the highest metallization among HBI plants, at 95.38%. All output was shipped by sea to third-party customers.
ArcelorMittal Acindar in Argentina operated below maximum capacity due to local market conditions, but still achieved the highest cumulative production to date from a 5.5-meter MIDREX Shaft Furnace, and set a new annual metallization record of 95.38%.
ArcelorMittal Canada’s two modules operated at more than 43% and 56% of rated capacity respectively; combined output reached over 90% of the plant’s 2018 production record. Module 2’s average total iron content of 91.80% was the second-highest of any MIDREX plant in 2025.
ArcelorMittal Hamburg, the longest-serving MIDREX module (commissioned in 1971), operated at reduced capacity due to market conditions.
ArcelorMittal Lázaro Cárdenas’s 6.5-meter reduction furnace recorded its highest output to date, operating above rated capacity using almost exclusively oxide pellets from its adjacent pellet plant.
ArcelorMittal South Africa’s COREX export-gas-based MxCol plant in Saldanha, idled since January 2020, remained shut down throughout 2025.
ArcelorMittal Texas HBI’s 2.0 Mt/y module set a world monthly HBI production record in September, with annual output exceeding 90% of its 2023 production record. The plant has shown continuous improvement in natural gas efficiency since startup in 2016.
At ArcelorMittal/Nippon Steel India, Modules III and IV operated above rated capacity, with Modules IV and V exceeding 8,000 operating hours. Module IV set new records in production, productivity, electricity consumption, and operating time, plus a new monthly production record in October. More than 90% of output from the site’s four HDRI/HBI modules was produced as HDRI; Modules I and VI produced CDRI exclusively, while Modules V and VI used top gas fuel for VPSA CO₂ removal and COREX gas to fire reformer burners.
Cleveland-Cliffs’ 1.6 Mt/y plant in Toledo, Ohio, marked its fifth anniversary by achieving the highest HBI carbon content among all HBI plants; output continues to supply Cleveland-Cliffs’ regional steel operations.
COMSIGUA in Venezuela operated for only a few months at limited capacity.
The two Delta Steel modules in Nigeria did not operate in 2025.
Both modules at DRIC in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, operated above rated capacity, setting a new combined annual production record. Module 2 set new records in production, productivity, and electricity consumption, plus a new monthly record in January, and recorded the second-highest operating time of any MIDREX plant; Module 1 also set a new electricity consumption record.
ESISCO’s plant, operated by Beshay Steel, remained shut down throughout 2025 following its closure in early 2020.
All three modules at EZDK operated above rated capacity, coming within 1% of the multi-plant production record set in 2023. Module 1 set new annual records in production, electricity consumption, and operating time — the highest among all MIDREX plants in 2025 — while Module 3, marking its 25th anniversary, set a new annual production record and ran for more than 8,300 hours.
Ferrominera Orinoco (FMO)’s HBI module in Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela, operated at low capacity, 35 years after its restart as a MIDREX plant.
The four MIDREX modules at Hadeed in Saudi Arabia came within 8% of their combined annual production record set in 2013, with all modules operating above design capacity. Module C recorded the third-highest operating time of any MIDREX plant and the highest reformer efficiency by production per volume of catalyst, with annual output just 3% below its 2006 record. Module E continues to hold the record for cumulative production from a 7.0-meter MIDREX Shaft Furnace. Hadeed also operates an HYL plant (Module D).
Jindal Steel Sohar set a new annual productivity record and broke its monthly production record in October. The single-module facility in Oman, designed primarily for HDRI with HBI as a secondary stream, ranked as the most efficient MIDREX plant in 2025 by production per reduction furnace volume; additional bin capacity allowed 98% of output to be consumed as HDRI in the directly connected steel shop.
JSPL (Angul), the first MxCol plant — using synthesis gas from coal gasifiers to produce both HDRI and CDRI — set new annual records in production, metallization, and electricity consumption, and broke its monthly production record in May. HDRI accounted for 70% of total output, with supplemental coke oven gas (COG) used throughout the year.
JSW Steel (Dolvi)’s CDRI module operated above design capacity and exceeded 8,000 operating hours, with roughly 10% of total energy input coming from COG injected into the shaft furnace to reduce natural gas consumption.
JSW Steel (Toranagallu)’s HDRI/CDRI module, which uses COREX export gas as its energy source, ran close to 8,000 hours, with availability largely constrained by COREX gas supply. Of total output, 53% was delivered to the steel shop as HDRI and the balance as CDRI; it is the second plant of its kind worldwide after ArcelorMittal’s COREX/MIDREX plant in Saldanha, which is currently shut down.
Lion DRI’s module near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, remained shut down throughout 2025 due to competition from foreign steel products.
At LISCO, combined production from three modules came within 1.2% of the 2024 record. Modules 1 and 3 operated above design capacity; Module 1 set a new operating time record while supplying CDRI to the LISCO steel shop, and Module 3 set new annual records in productivity, natural gas consumption, and electricity consumption.
The 1.28 Mt/y combination plant NSCL, formerly Tuwairqi Steel Mills, near Karachi, Pakistan, did not operate in 2025.
Nu-Iron Unlimited, Nucor’s module in Trinidad and Tobago, achieved the highest DRI metallization (96.22%) and carbon content (2.74%) of any MIDREX plant in 2025.
At Qatar Steel, Module 1 — in operation since 1978 — holds the highest cumulative production by a 5.0-meter shaft furnace, and recorded the second-highest average carbon content among MIDREX CDRI plants in 2025. Module 2 supplies the adjacent steel mill while producing both CDRI and HBI for export. Both modules operated above rated capacity.
Only Module 2B at Sidor was reported to have produced DRI in 2025; the plant’s other three modules remained shut down.
SULB’s 1.5 Mt/y combination plant in Bahrain, capable of simultaneous HDRI and CDRI production, set new annual records in production, natural gas consumption, and electricity consumption, and recorded the highest metallization of any HDRI plant. Of total output, 80% was delivered as HDRI to the adjacent steel shop, 20% as CDRI, with the remainder exported by sea.
Tenaris Siderca’s CDRI module in Argentina operated throughout the year — aside from its customary June–August shutdown due to natural gas pricing — recording the second-highest average DRI metallization of any MIDREX plant.
Both modules at Tosyali Algérie achieved a new combined annual production record. Module DRI I, a 2.5 Mt/y HDRI/CDRI unit operating since 2018, reached the highest cumulative production from a 7.5-meter MIDREX Shaft Furnace and set a new electricity consumption record, with over 70% of output delivered to the adjacent steel shop as HDRI. Module DRI II, which started up in August 2024, broke multiple records — including annual production, productivity, metallization, electricity consumption, and operating time — and posted the highest monthly output of any MIDREX plant in May. It now holds the highest annual and monthly production and productivity figures worldwide among MIDREX plants. Together with AQS, the Tosyali modules represent the largest-capacity MIDREX units built to date.
All three modules at TT Iron Steel Company Ltd., formerly ArcelorMittal Point Lisas, remained shut down throughout the year.
VENPRECAR in Venezuela operated at minimum capacity during the year.
