Hot briquetted iron is a relatively new product, developed in the past 25 years, as a supplement for pig iron and scrap in electric furnace steel mills. It is a compacted form of direct reduced iron, which facilitates its handling, storage and use. HBI was developed to overcome the problems associated with shipping and handling of DRI. Due to the process of compaction, it is less porous and therefore less reactive than DRI and does not suffer from the risk of self-heating associated with DRI. Located in and established by Persian Gulf Saba Steel complex, the Iranian HBI plant has a production capacity of 1.5 million tons per year, according to Saba Steel Managing Director Morteza Yazdkhasti. Yazdkhasti noted that this is Saba Steel’s first development phase of a total of three, which is meant to bring the steelmaker’s total output capacity to 5 million tons, IRNA reported.