According to the statistics released by the Italian steel producers' association Federacciai, in the January-October period of the current year Italy's steel product imports from countries outside the European Union (EU) reached 4.83 million metric tons, decreasing by 49.3 percent, while its steel product exports excluding EU destinations totaled 3.83 million metric tons, down 21.9 percent, both compared to the corresponding period of 2008.
In the period in question, Italy's semi-finished steel product imports from non-EU member states reached 1.89 million metric tons, down 44 percent year on year. Meanwhile, the country's semi-finished steel product exports to non-EU countries amounted to 327,000 metric tons, down 6.8 percent year on year.
In the first ten months of the year, Italy's imports of long products from non-EU countries decreased by 52.1 percent to 369,000 metric tons, while its long product exports to these countries totaled 1.26 million metric tons, down 29.9 percent, both compared to January-October 2008.
On the other hand, during the given period, Italy's flat product imports from non-EU countries reached 2.23 million metric tons, down 50.2 percent year on year, while its flat product exports to non-EU countries amounted to 1.22 million metric tons, with a year-on-year decrease of 9.6 percent.