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
                                           

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

Total Selected Commodities           854,965     547,331     813,582     489,654

Ingots And Steel For Castings          2,001       1,157       3,074       2,190
Blooms, Billets And Slabs            186,349      62,540     227,954      61,688
Structural Shapes Heavy               12,148       6,706      10,220       4,534
Plates Cut Lengths                    65,722      41,476      49,690      26,771
Plates In Coils                       15,973       7,400      11,073       5,063
Rails Standard                         5,851       3,118       2,375       1,267
Bars - Hot Rolled                    202,983     102,103     154,346      75,116
Bars - Light Shaped                    5,334       2,866       5,126       2,241
Bars - Cold Finished                   9,269      10,838      11,830       9,871
Tool Steel                            33,859      48,930      41,446      52,422
Standard Pipe                          2,538       3,246       2,941       4,365
Oil Country Goods                     54,721      58,163      40,033      49,498
Line Pipe > 16 inches in diamete      46,122      27,709       8,819       6,598
Line Pipe <= 16 inches in diamet       2,049       1,902       6,716       5,321
Line Pipe - Not Specified                  0           0           0           0
Mechanical Tubing                     19,842      21,434      22,365      26,442
Pressure Tubing                        5,198       8,702       5,286       9,939
Pipe & Tubing Nonclassified              886       3,489         778       2,919
Structural Pipe & Tube                 3,444       6,800       6,457       5,621
Pipe For Piling                          318         192         156         177
Wire Drawn                            25,521      25,904      24,962      24,921
Sheets Hot Rolled                     33,655      18,020      22,722      11,999
Sheets Cold Rolled                    28,992      18,761      39,570      22,753
Sheets & Strip Galv Hot Dipped        57,493      30,626      80,239      42,887
Sheets & Strip Galv Electrolyt        10,116       8,721       9,359       8,117
Sheets & Strip - Electrical           15,521      12,562      18,217      14,797
Strip - Hot Rolled                     1,539         892       2,106       1,106
Strip - Cold Rolled                    7,520      13,074       5,720      11,035
                                           
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
April 2004 (CB-04-76)