Not Seasonally Adjusted
            Exhibit 2B:  U.S. Imports for Consumption of Stainless Steel
                              Products:  (Census Basis)
                                           
               Quantity in metric tons/ value in thousands of dollars.
                    Details may not equal totals due to rounding
                                           

                                      July 2003                 July 2002
                                      Cumulative to             Cumulative to
                                      Date - Final              Date - Final
Commodity
Grouping                        Quantity    Value       Quantity    Value

Total Selected Commodities           428,974     856,034     523,616     901,966

Ingots And Steel For Castings         19,737      25,545      17,645      20,090
Blooms, Billets And Slabs             85,257     120,958     169,555     188,329
Wire Rods                             20,168      32,512      29,879      48,068
Structural Shapes Heavy                  851       2,640       1,070       3,228
Plates Cut Lengths                    13,878      24,984      20,218      33,795
Plates In Coils                       12,045      20,763      12,910      15,494
Bars - Hot Rolled                      8,362      16,675      10,757      22,751
Bars - Light Shaped                    5,238      11,404       5,332      11,684
Bars - Cold Finished                  33,431      74,806      35,998      83,561
Stainless Pipe & Tubing               47,455     168,000      44,551     162,720
Wire Drawn                            18,458      56,187      16,725      52,609
Sheets Hot Rolled                      3,447       5,322       9,682       8,936
Sheets Cold Rolled                   137,613     228,179     130,561     193,742
Strip - Hot Rolled                       188         454         207         405
Strip - Cold Rolled                   22,845      67,605      18,527      56,554
                                           
NOTE:   See the cover report specifically explaining the current month's preliminary
steel imports trade data or
www.census.gov/foreign-trade/Press-Release/steel_index.html.

CONTACT:  For more information, contact Haydn R. Mearkle (301-763-2246) or Nick
Orsini (301-763-2311), Foreign Trade Division, U.S. Census Bureau.

SOURCE:  U.S. Imports for Consumption of Steel Products: Preliminary
August 2003 (CB-03-148)