According to the statistics released by the Italian steel producers' association Federacciai, in the first six months of 2010 Italy's steel imports reached 8.72 million metric tons, increasing by 39 percent, while its steel exports totaled 7.91 million metric tons, up 27.6 percent, both compared to January-June 2009.
In the period in question, Italy's semi-finished steel product imports reached 1.98 million metric tons, up 49.5 percent year on year. Meanwhile, the country's semi-finished steel product exports amounted to 515,000 metric tons, up 116.4 percent year on year.
In January-June 2010, Italy's imports of long products increased by 37.8 percent to 1.14 million metric tons, while its long product exports totaled 1.64 million metric tons, down 4.7 percent, both year on year.
On the other hand, during the first six months of 2010 Italy's flat product imports reached 4.94 million metric tons, up 40.4 percent year on year, while its flat product exports amounted to 3.31 million metric tons, with a year-on-year increase of 48.9 percent.