According to the statistics released by the Italian steel producers' association Federacciai, in the first nine months of 2010 Italy's steel imports from countries outside the European Union (EU) reached 6.1 million metric tons, increasing by 43.2 percent, while its steel product exports excluding EU destinations totaled 3.7 million metric tons, up 10.5 percent, both compared to the corresponding period of 2009.
In the period in question, Italy's semi-finished steel product imports from non-EU member states reached 2.43 million metric tons, up 47.7 percent year on year. Meanwhile, the country's semi-finished steel product exports to non-EU countries amounted to 324,000 metric tons, up 14.9 percent year on year.
In the January-September period of this year, Italy's imports of long products from non-EU countries increased by 37.1 percent to 425,000 metric tons, while its long product exports to these countries totaled 970,000 metric tons, down 15.7 percent, both compared to January-September 2009.
On the other hand, in January-September this year, Italy's flat steel imports from non-EU countries reached 2.94 million metric tons, up 47.7 percent year on year, while its flat product exports to non-EU countries amounted to 1.39 million metric tons, with a year-on-year increase of 38.8 percent.