According to the statistics released by the Italian steel producers' association Federacciai, in the first nine months of 2010 Italy's steel imports reached 12.67 million metric tons, increasing by 39 percent, while its steel exports totaled 11.39 million metric tons, up 23.6 percent, both compared to January-September 2009.
In the period in question, Italy's semi-finished steel product imports reached 2.75 million metric tons, up 40.1 percent year on year. Meanwhile, the country's semi-finished steel product exports amounted to 711,000 metric tons, up 66.1 percent year on year.
In January-September this year, Italy's imports of long products increased by 37.5 percent to 1.61 million metric tons, while its long product exports totaled 2.34 million metric tons, down 3.1 percent, both year on year.
On the other hand, during the first nine months of 2010, Italy's flat product imports reached 7.28 million metric tons, up 42.7 percent year on year, while its flat product exports amounted to 4.82 million metric tons, with a year-on-year increase of 40.7 percent.