According to the statistics released by the Italian steel producers' association Federacciai, in the first eight months of 2010 Italy's steel imports reached 11.18 million metric tons, increasing by 42.2 percent, while its steel exports totaled 10.01 million metric tons, up 25.4 percent, both compared to January-August 2009.
In the period in question, Italy's semi-finished steel product imports reached 2.46 million metric tons, up 43.6 percent year on year. Meanwhile, the country's semi-finished steel product exports for the period amounted to 650,000 metric tons, up 81.1 percent year on year.
In January-August this year, Italy's imports of long steel products increased by 37 percent to 1.4 million metric tons, while its long product exports totaled 2.08 million metric tons, down 2.6 percent, both year on year.
On the other hand, during the given period, Italy's flat steel product imports reached 6.46 million metric tons, up 47.4 percent year on year, while its flat product exports amounted to 4.25 million metric tons, with a year-on-year increase of 43.6 percent.