In January this year, South Africa's imports of common carbon and alloy steel products, excluding semi-finished products, stainless steel and drawn wire, amounted to 56,736 metric tons, increasing by 100.2 percent over the previous month and up 14.3 percent year on year, according to data released by the South African Revenue Service.
On the other hand, in the last 12 months (February 2010-January 2011) South African imports of common carbon and alloy steel products totaled 663,921 metric tons, rising by 38.4 percent compared to the prior corresponding twelve month period.