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
                                           

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

Total Selected Commodities           120,114     282,644     117,111     228,079

Ingots And Steel For Castings            325         550       5,091       6,724
Blooms, Billets And Slabs             24,490      46,498      19,914      26,832
Wire Rods                              3,784       7,690       5,574       8,933
Structural Shapes Heavy                  330         861         186         502
Plates Cut Lengths                     4,487       9,687       4,173       7,276
Plates In Coils                        3,787       8,329       2,744       4,635
Bars - Hot Rolled                      2,473       6,251       2,145       4,210
Bars - Light Shaped                    1,823       3,868       1,837       3,956
Bars - Cold Finished                   6,853      17,644       9,662      20,853
Stainless Pipe & Tubing               15,577      56,275      12,479      45,365
Wire Drawn                             5,619      17,846       5,269      15,391
Sheets Hot Rolled                        956       1,826         916         993
Sheets Cold Rolled                    44,018      88,190      39,509      61,202
Strip - Hot Rolled                       152         269          58         169
Strip - Cold Rolled                    5,440      16,859       7,554      21,037
                                           
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)