Not Seasonally Adjusted

    Exhibit 2a.  U.S. Imports For Consumption of Alloy Steel Products:
                             (Census Basis)

         Quantity in metric tons/value In thousands of dollars.
             Details may not equal totals due to rounding.

                                                December 2000 Cumulative
                                                     To Date - Final
     Commodity
     Grouping                                  Quantity           Value
                                       
Total Selected Commodities                    4,070,469         2,533,870

Ingots And Steel For Castings                    45,242            21,884
Blooms, Billets And Slabs                       629,427           172,032
Structural Shapes Heavy                         120,176            44,704
Plates Cut Lengths                              221,684           142,147
Plates In Coils                                 133,802            59,563
Rails Standard                                    4,944             1,797
Bars - Hot Rolled                               710,166           361,372
Bars - Light Shaped                              27,936             9,956
Bars - Cold Finished                             75,826            74,740
Tool Steel                                      162,450           225,232
Standard Pipe                                    21,244            28,455
Oil Country Goods                               213,925           212,882
Line Pipe >16 Inches In Diameter                143,815            92,612
Line Pipe <=16 Inches In Diameter                10,579             8,040
Line Pipe Other                                  10,768             5,372
Mechanical Tubing                               110,674           148,844
Pressure Tubing                                  26,270            34,263
Pipe & Tubing Nonclassified                       3,587             7,916
Structural Pipe & Tube                            6,593            10,719
Pipe For Piling                                  19,066            13,163
Wire Drawn                                       89,530            96,138
Sheets Hot Rolled                               120,303            59,703
Sheets Cold Rolled                              428,096           215,712
Sheets & Strip Galv Hot Dipped                  493,402           271,960
Sheets & Strip Galv Electrolyt                   92,495            52,710
Sheets & Strip - Electrical                     111,250            80,265
Strip - Hot Rolled                                6,833             4,845
Strip - Cold Rolled                              30,386            76,842

CONTACT:  For more information, contact Haydn R. Mearkle (301-457-2246) or
   Nick Orsini (301-457-2311), Foreign Trade Division, U.S. Census Bureau.

NOTE:  For information on more detailed data available, please see record
       titled "MORE DETAILED FOREIGN TRADE DATA AVAILABLE."