Steel imports for October are up 30% over September, but down 50% compared to last year in what can only be viewed as a sign of the extreme weakness of the current economy.  The U.S. census bureau has the details:

The U.S. Census Bureau announced today that preliminary October steel imports were $1.3 billion (1.4 million metric tons) compared to the preliminary September totals of $1.0 billion (1.1 million metric tons). The October change in steel imports based on metric tonnage reflected an increase primarily in blooms, billets, and slabs. A monthly increase occurred primarily with Russia.

The year to date final statistics through September 2009 showed steel imports of 10.7 million metric tons compared to 22.1 million metric tons through September 2008. The largest commodity decrease was in blooms, billets, and slabs. The largest country decrease was with Canada.