India’s sponge iron production registered an 18% increase to nearly 52 million tonnes (mnt) in financial year 2023-24 (FY’24), reveals data maintained with BigMint. Volumes in FY’23 had touched around 44 mnt. Factors which led to higher sponge iron production in FY’24 is rise in India’s crude steel production. India’s crude steel production increased 13% y-o-y in FY’24 to 144 mnt against 127 mnt in FY’23. The growth was propelled by a sharp increase in the share of production through the induction furnace (IF) route, which uses sponge iron as a key raw material for iron-making. As a result, DRI share in the hot metal mix rose 16% in FY’24 to 50 mnt compared to 43 mnt in FY’23.
