diff --git a/plugin/trino-iceberg/src/test/java/io/trino/plugin/iceberg/IcebergTestUtils.java b/plugin/trino-iceberg/src/test/java/io/trino/plugin/iceberg/IcebergTestUtils.java
index f5e10c1d48a9..452018889e3a 100644
--- a/plugin/trino-iceberg/src/test/java/io/trino/plugin/iceberg/IcebergTestUtils.java
+++ b/plugin/trino-iceberg/src/test/java/io/trino/plugin/iceberg/IcebergTestUtils.java
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@
  */
 package io.trino.plugin.iceberg;
 
-import io.airlift.slice.Slice;
 import io.trino.Session;
 import io.trino.filesystem.FileEntry;
 import io.trino.filesystem.FileIterator;
@@ -24,12 +23,13 @@
 import io.trino.metastore.HiveMetastore;
 import io.trino.metastore.HiveMetastoreFactory;
 import io.trino.metastore.cache.CachingHiveMetastore;
+import io.trino.orc.OrcColumn;
 import io.trino.orc.OrcDataSource;
+import io.trino.orc.OrcPredicate;
 import io.trino.orc.OrcReader;
 import io.trino.orc.OrcReaderOptions;
-import io.trino.orc.metadata.OrcColumnId;
-import io.trino.orc.metadata.statistics.StringStatistics;
-import io.trino.orc.metadata.statistics.StripeStatistics;
+import io.trino.orc.OrcRecordReader;
+import io.trino.orc.metadata.OrcType;
 import io.trino.parquet.ParquetReaderOptions;
 import io.trino.parquet.metadata.BlockMetadata;
 import io.trino.parquet.metadata.ColumnChunkMetadata;
@@ -43,9 +43,12 @@
 import io.trino.plugin.iceberg.catalog.file.FileMetastoreTableOperationsProvider;
 import io.trino.plugin.iceberg.catalog.hms.TrinoHiveCatalog;
 import io.trino.plugin.iceberg.fileio.ForwardingInputFile;
+import io.trino.spi.Page;
+import io.trino.spi.block.Block;
 import io.trino.spi.catalog.CatalogName;
 import io.trino.spi.connector.SchemaTableName;
 import io.trino.spi.type.TestingTypeManager;
+import io.trino.spi.type.Type;
 import io.trino.testing.QueryRunner;
 import org.apache.iceberg.BaseTable;
 import org.apache.iceberg.TableMetadata;
@@ -60,16 +63,20 @@
 import java.util.function.Supplier;
 
 import static com.google.common.base.Verify.verify;
-import static com.google.common.collect.ImmutableList.toImmutableList;
 import static com.google.common.collect.Iterators.getOnlyElement;
 import static com.google.common.collect.MoreCollectors.onlyElement;
 import static com.google.common.util.concurrent.MoreExecutors.directExecutor;
+import static io.trino.memory.context.AggregatedMemoryContext.newSimpleAggregatedMemoryContext;
 import static io.trino.metastore.cache.CachingHiveMetastore.createPerTransactionCache;
+import static io.trino.orc.OrcReader.INITIAL_BATCH_SIZE;
 import static io.trino.plugin.iceberg.IcebergQueryRunner.ICEBERG_CATALOG;
 import static io.trino.plugin.iceberg.IcebergUtil.loadIcebergTable;
 import static io.trino.plugin.iceberg.util.FileOperationUtils.FileType.METADATA_JSON;
 import static io.trino.plugin.iceberg.util.FileOperationUtils.FileType.fromFilePath;
+import static io.trino.spi.type.TypeUtils.readNativeValue;
+import static io.trino.spi.type.VarcharType.VARCHAR;
 import static io.trino.testing.TestingConnectorSession.SESSION;
+import static org.joda.time.DateTimeZone.UTC;
 
 public final class IcebergTestUtils
 {
@@ -101,33 +108,30 @@ private static boolean checkOrcFileSorting(Supplier<OrcDataSource> dataSourceSup
         OrcReaderOptions readerOptions = new OrcReaderOptions();
         try (OrcDataSource dataSource = dataSourceSupplier.get()) {
             OrcReader orcReader = OrcReader.createOrcReader(dataSource, readerOptions).orElseThrow();
-            String previousMax = null;
-            OrcColumnId sortColumnId = orcReader.getRootColumn().getNestedColumns().stream()
+            OrcColumn sortColumn = orcReader.getRootColumn().getNestedColumns().stream()
                     .filter(column -> column.getColumnName().equals(sortColumnName))
-                    .collect(onlyElement())
-                    .getColumnId();
-            List<StripeStatistics> statistics = orcReader.getMetadata().getStripeStatsList().stream()
-                    .map(Optional::orElseThrow)
-                    .collect(toImmutableList());
-            verify(statistics.size() > 1, "Test must produce at least two row groups");
-
-            for (StripeStatistics stripeStatistics : statistics) {
-                // TODO: This only works if the sort column is a String
-                StringStatistics columnStatistics = stripeStatistics.getColumnStatistics().get(sortColumnId).getStringStatistics();
-
-                Slice minValue = columnStatistics.getMin();
-                Slice maxValue = columnStatistics.getMax();
-                if (minValue == null || maxValue == null) {
-                    throw new IllegalStateException("ORC files must produce min/max stripe statistics");
-                }
-
-                if (previousMax != null && previousMax.compareTo(minValue.toStringUtf8()) > 0) {
-                    return false;
+                    .collect(onlyElement());
+            Type sortColumnType = getType(sortColumn.getColumnType().getOrcTypeKind());
+            try (OrcRecordReader recordReader = orcReader.createRecordReader(
+                    List.of(sortColumn),
+                    List.of(sortColumnType),
+                    OrcPredicate.TRUE,
+                    UTC,
+                    newSimpleAggregatedMemoryContext(),
+                    INITIAL_BATCH_SIZE,
+                    RuntimeException::new)) {
+                Comparable<Object> previousMax = null;
+                for (Page page = recordReader.nextPage(); page != null; page = recordReader.nextPage()) {
+                    Block block = page.getLoadedPage().getBlock(0);
+                    for (int position = 0; position < block.getPositionCount(); position++) {
+                        Comparable<Object> current = (Comparable<Object>) readNativeValue(sortColumnType, block, position);
+                        if (previousMax != null && previousMax.compareTo(current) > 0) {
+                            return false;
+                        }
+                        previousMax = current;
+                    }
                 }
-
-                previousMax = maxValue.toStringUtf8();
             }
-
             return true;
         }
         catch (IOException e) {
@@ -135,6 +139,14 @@ private static boolean checkOrcFileSorting(Supplier<OrcDataSource> dataSourceSup
         }
     }
 
+    private static Type getType(OrcType.OrcTypeKind orcTypeKind)
+    {
+        return switch (orcTypeKind) {
+            case OrcType.OrcTypeKind.STRING, OrcType.OrcTypeKind.VARCHAR -> VARCHAR;
+            default -> throw new IllegalArgumentException("Unsupported orc type: " + orcTypeKind);
+        };
+    }
+
     @SuppressWarnings({"unchecked", "rawtypes"})
     public static boolean checkParquetFileSorting(TrinoInputFile inputFile, String sortColumnName)
     {