According to the data released by the Russian Federation's Federal Customs Service, in the first five months of 2007 Russia exported 12.2 million metric tons of ferrous metals (excluding pig iron, ferroalloys and scrap) - down 4.1 percent, 2.2 million metric tons of pig iron - down 13.4 percent, 327,600 metric tons of ferroalloys - up 28 percent, 6.6 million metric tons of semi-finished steel products - up 4.5 percent, 3.4 million metric tons of flat rolled products - down 17.8 percent, 9.85 million metric tons of iron ore and concentrate - up 14.6 percent, and 1.24 million metric tons of coke and semi-coke - up 2.14-fold, all compared to the first five months of 2006.
During the period in question, Russia increased its ferrous metal imports (excluding pig iron, ferroalloys and scrap) by 71 percent and its steel pipe imports by 45 percent year on year, to 2.4 million metric tons and 637,300 metric tons respectively.