Where to find live DRI/HBI prices
Primary sources onlyTSM does not display real-time DRI/HBI quotes on this page — instead, we link directly to the regulated exchanges and benchmark price-reporting agencies (PRAs) that produce the actual numbers. One True Source for All: where the data originates, that is where you should read it.
- NoteNo regulated futures contract for DRI/HBI on any major exchange
- Benchmark administrator (PRA)Fastmarkets — HBI / DRI assessments (Venezuela, Trinidad, Russia historic) ↗
- Benchmark administrator (PRA)Argus Media — DRI / HBI prices ↗
- Benchmark administrator (PRA)Platts / S&P Global — DRI / HBI assessments ↗
- Closest cleared proxyCME Pig Iron CFR New Orleans — closest cleared proxy for virgin-Fe units ↗
- Industry associationMidrex — annual world DRI statistics report ↗
- Industry associationWorld Steel Association — DRI annual figures ↗
Exchange access is free for delayed prices on most LME/SHFE/CME pages; live tick-by-tick data and PRA assessments are paid subscriptions sold by the exchange or by Fastmarkets / Argus / S&P Global Platts directly. See TSM Sources methodology for the full source tiering.
About DRI / HBI
Editorial · sourcedWhat is DRI / HBI?
Direct Reduced Iron (DRI) is iron produced by reducing iron-ore pellets or lump ore in the solid state, using a reducing gas (natural gas, hydrogen, or syngas) rather than carbon in a blast furnace. The DRI product is also called sponge iron because of its porous structure. Hot Briquetted Iron (HBI) is DRI compacted at ~650 °C into dense briquettes to make it safe for ocean transport (loose DRI is pyrophoric — it can self-ignite when wet). The two leading DRI process technologies are Midrex (the dominant gas-based vertical shaft) and HYL/Energiron (Tenova-Danieli). Per Midrex, world DRI production reached ~140 Mt in 2024, a ~5x increase since 2000.
How DRI / HBI is priced
DRI/HBI has no regulated futures contract. Pricing is by daily/weekly assessment from Fastmarkets, Argus and Platts / S&P Global — typically as FOB Venezuela, FOB Trinidad, FOB Russia (historic), CFR North Europe and CFR US Gulf. The closest cleared proxy is the CME Pig Iron CFR New Orleans futures contract, which discovers value for clean virgin-Fe units delivered to US EAF mills. HBI typically trades at a small premium to BPI on a metallics-content basis when EAF demand is tight.
Where DRI / HBI is produced
DRI production is concentrated where cheap natural gas exists alongside iron-ore pellet supply. Per the Midrex World Direct Reduction Statistics, top producing countries are:
- India — the world's largest DRI producer (~40+ Mt), mostly coal-based rotary-kiln DRI for domestic EAF mills (Tata Sponge, JSW, Jindal Steel & Power, RINL).
- Iran — large gas-based DRI sector (Mobarakeh Steel, Khouzestan Steel) on subsidised gas.
- Russia — Lebedinsky GOK, OEMK (Metalloinvest) for high-purity HBI (sanctioned/disrupted post-2022 in EU/US flows).
- Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Algeria — gas-based DRI for regional EAF mills.
- USA — voestalpine Texas (Corpus Christi HBI plant — major HBI export to its Linz mill), Nucor Louisiana DRI plant.
- Mexico — Ternium (Hylsamex roots, HYL/Energiron pioneer site).
- Trinidad and Tobago — Nucor / Cliffs HBI exports.
- Venezuela — historically a major HBI exporter (Sidor, OPCO); production decline since 2010s.
Who produces DRI / HBI
The DRI/HBI producer landscape combines integrated steelmakers, gas-rich state players and specialty HBI exporters:
- voestalpine — Texas HBI plant (Corpus Christi), feed for Linz BOF and its planned green-H₂ route.
- Nucor — Louisiana DRI plant, Trinidad HBI.
- Midrex / Kobe Steel — process licensor (~80% of world DRI capacity uses Midrex).
- Tenova-Danieli — HYL/Energiron process licensor.
- Metalloinvest — Russia, Lebedinsky and OEMK HBI plants.
- Tata Steel, Jindal Steel & Power, JSW Steel, SAIL — India.
- SSAB / HYBRIT consortium — Sweden, world's first commercial-scale H₂-DRI plant (with LKAB and Vattenfall).
- ArcelorMittal — Hamburg H₂-DRI pilot, Sestao green-steel project (Spain).
- Stegra (formerly H2 Green Steel) — Boden, Sweden, greenfield 2.5 Mt H₂-DRI-EAF plant.
What DRI / HBI is used for
DRI/HBI flows almost entirely into electric arc furnace (EAF) steelmaking as a clean virgin-iron supplement to scrap. Allocations:
- EAF clean-charge for premium flat steel — exposed automotive sheet, tinplate and AHSS grades demand low Cu/Sn/Ni, which only virgin-Fe (HBI, pig iron, scrap-prime busheling) delivers.
- Hydrogen-based green-steel route — H₂-DRI followed by EAF is the leading commercial decarbonisation pathway, with first commercial plants from HYBRIT (SSAB+LKAB+Vattenfall), Stegra, ArcelorMittal, voestalpine and thyssenkrupp coming on-stream 2025-2030.
- BF-BOF feed (smaller share) — large integrated mills also add DRI/HBI to the BOF for thermal balance and Fe-yield optimisation.
Key facts about DRI / HBI supply
- DRI is the cornerstone of green-steel decarbonisation — replacing natural-gas reductant with hydrogen yields steel with Scope-1 CO₂ near-zero. H₂-DRI is the route of choice for the EU's post-CBAM low-emission steel market.
- DRI/HBI tonnage roughly doubled from ~70 Mt (2010) to ~140 Mt (2024) per Midrex statistics — outpacing crude-steel growth materially.
- The natural-gas/hydrogen feed cost is the single largest variable in DRI economics. Subsidised gas in Iran and the Gulf is a structural advantage; green-H₂ DRI economics depend on renewable electricity prices.
- EU CBAM treats DRI/HBI as a precursor product alongside pig iron and crude steel from 1 January 2026.
- Reserves: not applicable. See Iron Ore upstream — DRI specifically requires high-grade pellet feed (≥67% Fe), so the DR-grade iron-ore market is a distinct premium segment.