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
                                           

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

Total Selected Commodities           648,974   1,747,844     546,330   1,095,974

Ingots And Steel For Castings          4,172       7,978      24,625      31,826
Blooms, Billets And Slabs            117,414     251,989     106,268     152,806
Wire Rods                             25,052      59,002      24,367      39,845
Structural Shapes Heavy                2,210       7,151       1,244       3,895
Plates Cut Lengths                    23,406      57,100      17,228      31,674
Plates In Coils                       25,546      69,693      16,893      28,936
Bars - Hot Rolled                     15,042      44,343      10,107      20,401
Bars - Light Shaped                   10,268      27,048       6,425      13,889
Bars - Cold Finished                  43,789     129,422      40,379      91,391
Stainless Pipe & Tubing               82,302     345,429      62,562     219,614
Wire Drawn                            27,859     103,061      23,081      70,960
Sheets Hot Rolled                      7,081      14,486      10,427      13,954
Sheets Cold Rolled                   236,357     535,751     174,026     292,106
Strip - Hot Rolled                     1,199       2,930         269         646
Strip - Cold Rolled                   27,277      92,461      28,431      84,030
                                           
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 Nick Orsini (301-763-2311), Foreign Trade
Division, U.S. Census Bureau.

SOURCE:  U.S. Imports for Consumption of Steel Products: Preliminary
October 2004 (CB-04-213)