Italy’s steel imports up 21.3 percent in Q1

According to the statistics released by the Italian steel producers' association Federacciai, in the first four months of the current year Italy's overall steel imports reached 6.62 million metric tons, increasing by 21.3 percent, while its steel exports totaled 5.86 million metric tons, up 13.1 percent, both compared to January-April 2010.

In the period in question, Italy's semi-finished steel product imports reached 1.36 million metric tons, up 7.6 percent year on year. Meanwhile, the country's semi-finished steel product exports amounted to 300,000 metric tons, down 12.8 percent year on year.

In the first four months of 2011, Italy's imports of long steel products increased by 28.8 percent to 898,000 metric tons, while its long product exports totaled 1.17 million metric tons, up 5.7 percent, both year on year.

On the other hand, in the same period Italy's flat steel imports reached 3.84 million metric tons, up 24.9 percent year on year, while its flat product exports amounted to 2.54 million metric tons, with a year-on-year increase of 18.8 percent.

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

(**) Flanges, pipe fittings, mining sections, diamond plates, pig iron powder

Units of measurement are thousand metric tons.