The Specialty Steel Industry of North America has released statistical data on imports, US consumption and import penetration for December 2008. The data represents US consumption, imports and import penetration for YTD December 2008 as compared to the same 2007 twelve month period. The following data is presented by specialty steel product line, total stainless steel and total specialty steel: 1. Stainless steel sheet/strip: Imports in YTD December 2008 were 441,313 tons, a 4.7% YoY increase as compared to YTD December 2007, US consumption was 1,245,825 tons, an 18.1% YoY decrease; twelve month import penetration was 35.4%, a 7.7 percentage point increase from 2007.