Since the 1980's, food imports to the United States have doubled.

With almost 200 million inhabitants, the Mercosur region has enormous commercial potential, and imports have more than doubled in recent years.

So from 1990 to 1994, imports of Italian pasta to the United States doubled, to about $119 million.

Mr. Xu estimates that agricultural imports will double in a few years.

Even with Beijing's efforts to cool economic growth, imports of scrap steel may double again by the end of 2005.

Japan's imports from the United States have doubled in five years.

In the 1990's, world trade, American imports and American exports all doubled.

Also, imports almost doubled to 464,000 barrels a day.

American imports from Mexico over those six years have doubled, to $35 billion.

In the space of a few years, imports of wine from outside Europe have doubled.