According to the data issued by the Russian Special Steel and Alloys Consumers and Suppliers Association (Spetsstal), in 2009 Russia's imports of the main stainless steel products decreased by 38.7 percent year on year to 109,600 mt, and fell by 33.4 percent to $388.57 million in money terms.
In particular, in 2009, Russia's imports of flats went down by 44.6 percent to 66,500 mt, imports of longs decreased by 28.3 percent to 12,000 mt, imports of wire dropped by 42.9 percent to 1,800 mt, imports of seamless tubes decreased by 39.5 percent to 7,800 mt, imports of welded tubes went down by 17.7 percent to 18,200 mt, and imports of billets dropped by 16.9 percent to 2,450 mt, all compared to 2008.
The major share in Russian stainless steel imports, i.e. 60.7 percent, is held by flats, followed by welded tubes with a share of 16.7 percent, longs with a share of 11.6 percent, seamless tubes with 7.2 percent, billets with 2.2 percent, and wire with a share of 1.6 percent.
On the other hand, in 2009, Russia's stainless steel product exports went down by 39.2 percent year on year to 6,563 mt, including 2,894 mt of flats - down 37.7 percent, 1,642 mt of longs - down 48.6 percent, 101 mt of wire - down 36.9 percent, 1,422 mt of seamless tubes -down 23 percent, and 119 mt of billets and slabs - down 86.8 percent, all compared to 2008.
Over recent years, exports of the main stainless steel products from Russia have been in gradual decline. In 2003 Russia's stainless steel product export volume stood at 21,889 mt, in 2004 it stood at 18,551 mt, in 2005 at 13,118 mt, in 2006 at 15,593 mt, in 2007 at 14,644 mt, and in 2008 the volume amounted to just 10,788 mt.