Italy’s steel imports rise 55.3 percent in January

According to the statistics released by the Italian steel producers' association Federacciai, in January this year Italy's steel imports reached 1.58 million metric tons, increasing by 55.3 percent, while its steel exports totaled 1.25 million metric tons, up 16.8 percent, both compared to January 2010.

In the period in question, Italy's semi-finished steel product imports reached 379,000 metric tons, up 54.1 percent year on year. Meanwhile, the country's semi-finished steel product exports amounted to 67,000 metric tons, up 19.6 percent year on year.

In January this year, Italy's imports of long steel products increased by 50 percent to 198,000 metric tons, while its long product exports totaled 223,000 metric tons, up 4.7 percent, both on year-on-year basis.

On the other hand, in the given month, Italy's flat steel imports reached 886,000 metric tons, up 59.6 percent year on year, while its flat steel product exports amounted to 538,000 metric tons, with a year-on-year increase of 13 percent.

(*) Seamless pipes, welded pipes, flanges, fittings, forged bars, cold drawn sections and bars, drawn wire, cold rolled strips, welded sections, drawn wire.

Figures in table are for thousand metric tons.