Italy achieves net steel exports of 3.208 million mt in Jan-Sept

According to the Italian steel producers' association Federacciai, in the January-September period of this year Italy's steel imports amounted to 10.727 million metric tons, decreasing by 23.7 percent, while its steel exports totaled 13.935 million metric tons, up 8.3 percent, both compared to the previous year. Accordingly, Italy’s net steel exports for the period reached 3.208 million mt, compared to net steel imports of 1.202 million mt in the same period of 2011.

Neverthless, during the third quarter Italian steel exports slowed their increase rate, from 10.3 percent in January-June to 8.3 percent in January-September, both as compared to the corresponding periods of the previous year. ‘Ingots and semi-finished products’ was the only category showing an external trade deficit in January-September due to a 4.4 percent year-on-year decrease in exports.

During the first nine months of the current year, Italy’s external trade of flat steel indicated net exports amounting to 405,000 mt compared to net imports of almost 2.5 million mt in the same period of 2011, while the country’s net exports of long steel products more than doubled year on year reaching 1.582 million mt. The details of Italy’s external steel trade in the first nine months of this year are as follows:

Units of measurement are thousand metric tons