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
                                           

                                      February 2004             February 2003
                                      Cumulative to             Cumulative to
                                      Date - Final              Date - Final
Commodity
Grouping                        Quantity    Value       Quantity    Value

Total Selected Commodities           537,783     337,865     527,254     308,912

Ingots And Steel For Castings          1,482         839       1,819       1,120
Blooms, Billets And Slabs            129,941      40,951     150,274      40,475
Structural Shapes Heavy                8,226       4,509       6,749       2,834
Plates Cut Lengths                    42,866      25,597      29,227      15,683
Plates In Coils                        9,637       4,322       8,172       3,753
Rails Standard                         2,342       1,393         639         412
Bars - Hot Rolled                    112,086      59,454      94,931      44,863
Bars - Light Shaped                    3,946       2,006       4,023       1,756
Bars - Cold Finished                   6,129       7,390       7,244       6,130
Tool Steel                            21,221      30,241      25,459      32,750
Standard Pipe                          1,987       2,417       1,540       2,525
Oil Country Goods                     33,310      34,293      21,172      27,428
Line Pipe > 16 inches in diamete      29,932      18,132       6,263       4,741
Line Pipe <= 16 inches in diamet       1,961       1,811       4,073       3,401
Line Pipe - Not Specified                  0           0           0           0
Mechanical Tubing                     13,517      14,479      13,475      15,711
Pressure Tubing                        3,672       6,293       3,530       6,406
Pipe & Tubing Nonclassified              560       2,226         650       2,432
Structural Pipe & Tube                 2,006       3,808       5,491       4,005
Pipe For Piling                          146          85         156         177
Wire Drawn                            16,428      16,089      15,231      15,539
Sheets Hot Rolled                     18,736       9,529      13,987       7,216
Sheets Cold Rolled                    18,203      10,759      30,692      16,494
Sheets & Strip Galv Hot Dipped        39,327      20,550      61,713      32,326
Sheets & Strip Galv Electrolyt         5,303       4,692       5,839       5,001
Sheets & Strip - Electrical            9,387       7,613       9,534       7,970
Strip - Hot Rolled                       789         459       1,731         838
Strip - Cold Rolled                    4,643       7,927       3,640       6,928
                                           
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
March 2004 (CB-04-62)