Italian steel imports from non-EU countries saw a strong increase in January 2007, rising to 1.237 million metric tons - up 99.7 percent compared to the same month of last year.
In January, the country which exported the most steel to Italy was China, with 361,725 mt (up 383.4 percent). China was followed by Ukraine with 315,100 mt of steel exports to Italy (up 117.3 percent), and by Russia with 175,759 mt (up 23.4 percent).
Breaking the figures down into the different product categories, a significant rise was observed in flats imports into Italy in January 2007. Imports of hot rolled coils reached 254,047 mt for the month, compared to 140,809 mt for the same month last year. China was responsible for 55 percent of hot rolled imports into Italy in January, with over 140,000 mt. Serbia's share in Italy's January HR import figures was down 8.5 percent year on year to 22,423 mt, while Australia exported nearly 39,991 mt.
Italian imports of quarto plate in January reached 43,179 mt, up 247.6 percent year on year. China also topped the list of exporters of this product to Italy in January, with 32,568 mt - i.e., 75 percent of Italy's total quarto plate imports for the month. China was followed by Macedonia with 7,324 (up 184.6 percent), and by India with 2,652 mt (down 69.6 percent).
Meanwhile, Italian cold rolled imports in January 2007 were down 12.2 percent year on year to 33,561 mt. Of this figure, China was responsible for 18,003 mt, up 236 percent year on year.