According to the statistics released by the Italian steel producers' association Federacciai, in the first 10 months of 2010 Italy's steel imports reached 13.92 million metric tons, increasing by 34.2 percent, while its steel exports totaled 12.77 million metric tons, up 21.8 percent, both compared to January-October 2009.
In the period in question, Italy's semi-finished steel product imports reached 3.02 million metric tons, up 35.3 percent year on year. Meanwhile, the country's semi-finished steel product exports amounted to 794,000 metric tons in the given period, up 62.7 percent year on year.
In January-September 2010 Italy's imports of long products increased by 32.9 percent to 1.81 million metric tons, while its long product exports totaled 2.62 million metric tons, down 2.8 percent, both year on year.
On the other hand, during the first nine months of 2010, Italy's flat steel product imports reached 7.98 million metric tons, up 37 percent year on year, while its flat steel product exports amounted to 5.43 million metric tons, with a year-on-year increase of 37.2 percent.