Directions for the following 3 (three) items: The following three items are based on the graph given below which shows imports of three different types of steel over a period of six months of a year. Study the graph and answer the three items that follow. The figures in the brackets indicate the average cost per ton over six months period. By how much (measured in thousands of tons) did the import of sheet steel exceed the import of coil steel in the first three months of the year?

To solve this intuitively, we focus only on the 'Sheet' (striped) and 'Coil' (white) bars for Jan, Feb, and Mar [29].\n\n1. **January:**\n - Sheet is at line 40.\n - Coil is at line 30.\n - Difference = 10.\n\n2. **February:**\n - Sheet is exactly between 36 and 38. We read this as 37 [10].\n - Coil is exactly between 30 and 32. We read this as 31.\n - Difference = 37 - 31 = 6.\n\n3. **March:**\n - Sheet is at line 36.\n - Coil is exactly between 32 and 34. We read this as 33.\n - Difference = 36 - 33 = 3.\n\n4. **Total Excess:**\n - We sum these small differences: 10 + 6 + 3 = 19.\n - Comparing with options, 19 is Option (C). This avoids summing large totals like 113 and 94, keeping the calculation simple and mental [44].