As of July 11, 2026, the direct reduced iron (DRI) plant of Jindal Steel Oman in Sohar operated continuously for 188 days without any unplanned shutdowns. The 6.5-meter shaft furnace set a record for the highest monthly production of 185,710 mt in May 2026, with an average operating rate of 249.6 mt per hour. The facility’s production exceeded its original designed capacity of 1.5 million mt by 33%, establishing a new global benchmark for operational efficiency. The Sohar plant integrates gas-based direct reduction (using reformed natural gas to reduce iron ore) with a 220-mt Danieli electric furnace, where hot DRI is charged directly into the furnace by gravity. Billed as the world’s first gravity-fed hot DRI charging system, it achieves significant energy savings. In early 2026, the EAF side also set records: monthly production of 235,112 mt of liquid steel at a rate of 324 mt/hour, with a charge mix of 61% hot DRI, 37% cold DRI, and 2% hot briquetted iron (HBI), and electricity consumption of 493 kWh per mt of steel. In other words, from reduction to melting, this is a fully integrated DRI-EAF process, and the high stability of the shaft furnace serves as the foundation for the entire chain’s efficiency. Jindal’s record carries weight because it falls within a strengthening megatrend. According to data from Midrex and the World Steel Association, global DRI production reached 140.8 million mt in 2024, setting a new record high, up 3.8% YoY (the previous record was 135.7 million mt in 2023). The cumulative increase since 2019 is approximately 32.7 million mt, an increase of over 30%. More notably, this growth outpaced the mild 1% growth in global crude steel production over the same period. The DRI route is steadily expanding its share in the overall steel landscape. Midrex technology accounted for 54.1% of total production and approximately 80.1% of shaft-furnace DRI output. However, this growth is highly concentrated. In 2024, India ranked first globally with 54.7 million mt, accounting for over one-third of the total. Iran followed with 34.7 million mt, and together the two countries accounted for about 63% of the global total. Next came Russia (8.0 million mt), Saudi Arabia (6.6 million mt), and Egypt (6.4 million mt). The landscape broadly splits into two segments: one is India’s vast domestic demand-driven system based on coal-based rotary kiln sponge iron, and the other is the gas-based DRI cluster in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) built on cheap natural gas. Jindal Steel Oman’s Sohar plant falls into the latter category. This concentration also means that any disruption in natural gas supply, energy policy, or geopolitical turbulence in one location will be magnified to affect global DRI supply. To grasp the strategic value of such plants, one must place them within the carbon intensity framework. According to the representative route values from the World Steel Association, the blast furnace–converter integrated route emits approximately 2.3 mt CO₂ per mt of steel, while the scrap-based electric furnace route records the lowest at around 0.7 mt. The gas-based direct reduction–electric furnace route falls in between, at roughly 1.43 mt. This means that before green hydrogen direct reduction achieves true scale, gas-based DRI represents the most viable low-carbon iron source pathway beyond the blast furnace. It is not zero-carbon, but it can already reduce the carbon footprint to around 60% of the blast furnace route. A gas-based DRI plant like Jindal Shuhar—efficient, low-cost, and running stably—sits right at the sweet spot of this transitional pathway. Placed back into the trade dimension of the ferrous metal industry chain, the Middle East’s gas-based DRI and HBI have long played the role of supplying green iron to Europe, Turkey, and the US. The top five global DRI importers in 2024 were the US (1.5 million mt), Turkey (1.2 million mt), India (900,000 mt), Mexico (800,000 mt), and Italy (700,000 mt). As the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) enters the actual payment phase and embedded carbon costs increase year by year, the premium window for exporting low-carbon iron sources to Europe is opening up. Plants that can spread fixed unit costs thinner and push annualized output to 133% of designed capacity are precisely the most resilient marginal suppliers along this trade flow. Viewed from this angle, Jindal’s 188-day record is not merely a straightforward milestone.

By July 11, 2026, the direct reduced iron (DRI) plant of Jindal Steel Oman in Sohar had operated continuously for 188 days without any unplanned shutdowns. This 6.5-meter shaft furnace set a record high monthly production of 185,710 mt in May 2026, with an average operating rate of 249.6 mt per hour. The facility's production exceeded its original designed capacity of 1.5 million mt by 33%, thereby setting a new global benchmark for operational efficiency. The Sohar facility is an integrated combination of a gas-based direct reduction (using natural gas reformed syngas to reduce iron ore) unit and a 220 mt Danieli electric arc furnace. Hot DRI is gravity-fed directly into the electric furnace, touted as the world's first gravity hot DRI feeding system, achieving significant energy savings. The electric furnace side also set records in early 2026: a monthly output of 235,112 mt of liquid steel with a productivity of 324 mt/hour, a charge mix of 61% hot DRI, 37% cold DRI, and 2% hot briquetted iron (HBI), and electricity consumption of 493 kWh per mt of steel. In other words, from reduction to melting, this is a fully integrated DRI-EAF process, and the high operational stability of the shaft furnace is precisely the foundation of the entire chain's efficiency. This record is significant because it falls within a continuing strong mega-trend. According to statistics from Midrex and the World Steel Association, global direct reduced iron (DRI) production reached 140.8 million mt in 2024, a new record high, up 3.8% YoY (the previous record was 135.7 million mt in 2023); since 2019, it has cumulatively increased by about 32.7 million mt, an increase of over 30%. More notably, this growth rate outpaced the mild growth of about 1% in global crude steel production over the same period, with the DRI route steadily expanding its share in the overall steel landscape. Of this, the Midrex process accounted for 54.1% of total production, and an even larger share of about 80.1% in shaft furnace DRI. However, this growth is highly concentrated. In 2024, India ranked first globally with 54.7 million mt, accounting for over one-third of the total; Iran followed with 34.7 million mt, and together these two countries accounted for about 63% of the global total. It was followed by Russia at 8.0 million mt, Saudi Arabia at 6.6 million mt, and Egypt at 6.4 million mt. The landscape is broadly divided into two parts: one is India's massive domestic demand system primarily based on coal-based rotary kiln sponge iron, and the other is a gas-based DRI cluster in the Middle East and North Africa built on cheap natural gas, to which Jindal Steel Oman belongs. This concentration also means that any local natural gas supply, energy policy, or geopolitical disturbance will be amplified to the level of global DRI supply. Gas-Based DRI in the Decarbonization Landscape To understand the strategic value of such plants, one must place them back into the carbon intensity coordinate system. According to the World Steel Association's representative route values, the blast furnace—converter long process is about 2.3 mt CO2 per mt of steel, the scrap-based electric furnace is the lowest at about 0.7 mt, while the gas-based direct reduction—electric furnace is in the middle at about 1.43 mt. This means that, before green hydrogen-based direct reduction truly scales up, gas-based DRI is the most realistic low-carbon iron source route beyond the blast furnace. It is not zero-carbon, but it can already reduce the carbon footprint to about 60% of the long process. Gas-based DRI plants like Jindal Steel Oman, which are efficient, low-cost, and stably operated, exactly stand at the optimal point of this transitional route. Putting it back into the trade dimension of the ferrous industry chain, gas-based DRI and HBI from the Middle East have long played the role of supplying green steel to Europe, Turkey, and the US. In 2024, the top five global DRI importers were the US (1.5 million mt), Turkey (1.2 million mt), India (900,000 mt), Mexico (800,000 mt), and Italy (700,000 mt). As the EU CBAM enters actual payment and the embedded carbon cost rises year by year, the premium space for low-carbon iron source exports to Europe is being opened up, and plants that can spread their unit fixed costs thinner and push their annualized output to 133% of designed capacity are exactly the most resilient marginal suppliers on this trade flow. From this perspective, Jindal's 188-day record is more than just a simple milestone.

According to the World Steel Association, global crude steel production reached 155.7 million tonnes in June 2026, marking a 1.7% year-on-year increase. Africa recorded the strongest regional growth with a 20% rise to 2.2 million tonnes, while production in the Middle East fell by 13.4% amid ongoing logistical disruptions. Despite the monthly gain, total global production during the first half of 2026 stood 0.7% below the same period last year, indicating an uneven market recovery.

IIn June 2026, POSCO held a completion ceremony for its Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) at the Gwangyang steelworks on South Korea's southern coast, approximately 360 kilometers from Seoul, and has initiated the full-scale production of low-carbon steel. With an annual designed capacity of 2.5 million tons , this EAF is the largest single facility of its kind in South Korea. This marks POSCO's first large-scale upstream steelmaking investment in over two decades, signaling the beginning of a structural adjustment to its blast furnace-centric production system. Against the backdrop of the EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) entering its definitive payment stage and the tightening of Phase 4 of the Korea Emissions Trading Scheme (K-ETS), the strategic significance of this project outweighs the sheer capacity itself. Project Details & Commissioning Timeline The special significance of this project lies in its time span: since the blow-in of Blast Furnace No. 5 at the Gwangyang plant in April 2000, POSCO had not invested in major upstream steelmaking capacity for over 20 years. This pivot to EAFs represents the first directional shift in its blast furnace-centric hot metal production system in half a century. Regarding technical configuration, the EAF primarily utilizes steel scrap as its raw material, substituting the traditional iron ore-coke reduction route of the blast furnace through scrap melting. This shift achieves up to 75% CO2 emission reductions compared to traditional blast furnaces. The core equipment is supplied by Italy's Tenova, featuring the Consteel continuous scrap charging system and the Consterrer electromagnetic stirring system. POSCO also utilizes the off-gas generated during EAF operations to preheat the scrap, thereby enhancing energy efficiency. The completion ceremony was attended by South Korean Prime Minister Kim Min-seok and POSCO Group Chairman Jang In-hwa. Key Timeline Market Impact Post-Commissioning In the short term, the direct market impact of this EAF is relatively mild; its value is predominantly structural and strategic. This can be analyzed through three key threads: raw materials, products, and regulations. Scrap Market — Gradual demand release, but with a cautious pace: In the initial stage of commissioning, POSCO plans to primarily consume internally generated scrap at the Gwangyang plant, keeping external purchases limited; the company estimates external scrap purchases in 2026 to be approximately 2 million tons . Because the green steel market has grown slower than previously expected, scrap consumption in the short term may remain relatively restrained. This means the EAF's upward pull on South Korean and regional scrap prices will be gradual, rather than causing a significant demand spike in the year of commissioning. Entering High-End Flat Products via Hot Metal Blending: POSCO's differentiated approach relies on "hot metal blending" technology, which mixes and refines molten steel from the EAF with hot metal from the blast furnace to lower carbon emissions while maintaining the steel quality required for high-end products. The company has designated high-grade EAF steel as one of its eight strategic products and established an integrated R&D, production, and sales project team, aiming to mass-produce automotive sheets and electrical steel by 2030. This directly addresses the growing demand for low-carbon steel from downstream automotive and electrical clients, distinguishing POSCO's EAF route from ordinary long-product EAF capacities. Regulation & Competition — Low-carbon capacity as a hedge for export competitiveness: The timing of the commissioning is highly aligned with tightening global regulations. The EU CBAM entered its definitive stage on January 1, 2026, requiring imported steel to incur fees for its embodied carbon emissions. This obligation ratio will increase annually from about 2.5% in 2026 to 100% by 2034 (corresponding to the synchronized phase-out of free allowances within the EU). For export-oriented South Korean steelmakers, low-carbon capacity acts as a hedging tool to maintain competitiveness in the European market. Overall, the Gwangyang EAF will not significantly alter POSCO's production volume structure or overall carbon footprint in its first year— 2.5 million tons represents a limited share relative to its total crude steel production. Its true significance lies in establishing a low-carbon product line and corresponding client relationships ahead of the commercialization of hydrogen-reduction steelmaking. It is a layout where the "option value" exceeds the "current capacity value." Global Steel Decarbonization Background The steel industry accounts for approximately 7%–9% of global CO2 emissions (World Steel Association data), making it one of the hardest-to-abate heavy industries. The root of the emission disparities lies in the steelmaking routes: the traditional Blast Furnace-Basic Oxygen Furnace (BF-BOF) process relies on coking coal as energy and a reducing agent, making it the most carbon-intensive route; whereas the Scrap-EAF route relies primarily on electricity, making it the most mature route with the lowest carbon intensity. However, the practical constraint on route transition lies in the existing capacity structure. Within global crude steel production, the BF-BOF route still accounts for roughly 72% ; scrap-based EAF accounts for about 21% , with the remainder being Direct Reduced Iron-EAF (DRI-EAF) and other routes. China, accounting for over half of global production with a nearly 90% blast furnace share, has become the critical variable determining the pace of global steel decarbonization. Targeting the 2050 net-zero goal, mainstream pathways require the production structure to significantly tilt toward EAFs and hydrogen-based direct reduction. Yet, the transition is bottlenecked by a triple constraint: the supply and availability of high-quality scrap, the scaling up of green electricity, and the cost premium of low-carbon steel over traditional products. POSCO's "two-step" arrangement—using EAF as a transition and HyREX hydrogen reduction as the endgame—is a quintessential choice within this global landscape. South Korean Steelmakers' Decarbonization Efforts The decarbonization of the South Korean steel industry is not a solo endeavor by a single enterprise. As early as February 2021, six South Korean steelmakers, including POSCO and Hyundai Steel, jointly issued a 2050 Carbon Neutrality Declaration and established the "Green Steel Committee," comprising industry, academia, research institutions, and government departments. Since then, driven by the dual pressures of policy constraints (K-ETS Phase 4, South Korea's Nationally Determined Contributions - NDC) and external forces (CBAM), each company has formed decarbonization layouts with similar trajectories but different focuses. The common logic for both companies is clear: currently employing "transitional technologies" such as EAFs and hot metal blending to reduce the carbon footprint of products, introducing hydrogen-based direct reduction around 2030, and targeting 2050 for a full transition. The differences lie in their entry points—POSCO is betting on its self-developed HyREX as the core for the hydrogen metallurgy endgame, whereas Hyundai Steel, under its Hy-Cube brand, aims to commercialize high-end flat EAF products (like automotive sheets) much earlier. The commissioning of the Gwangyang EAF is precisely a quantifiable, deliverable milestone in this overarching transition process.

[SMM Steel] Global crude steel output reached 157.9 million tonnes in May 2026 among the 70 countries reporting to the World Steel Association (worldsteel), down 0.3% year-on-year. Output for January-May totaled 773.1 million tonnes, a 1.5% decline. China remained the top producer with 84.4 million tonnes, down 2.7% y-o-y; India ranked second with 14.1 million tonnes, up 1.9%; the U.S. produced 7.5 million tonnes, up 9.2%. The CIS+Ukraine region produced 6.7 million tonnes, down 4.8% y-o-y. North America saw the strongest regional growth at +15.6% (10.1 million tonnes), while the Middle East recorded the steepest drop at -19.4% (3.9 million tonnes).

A specialized global steel industrial census presented by the World Steel Association (Worldsteel) at a high-level metal forum in Singapore revealed that the international transition to low-carbon metallurgy has hit a severe wall. Official project monitoring data verified that approximately 50% of all planned global green steel projects have already been postponed or put on hold. Steelmakers and industry analysts confirmed that while governments have allocated just $20 billion of the estimated $1.5 trillion in capital required to completely decarbonize the primary metals sector, uncompetitive premiums for green hydrogen are freezing multi-billion-dollar investments in direct-reduction iron (DRI) infrastructure.