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
                                           

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

Total Selected Commodities           819,368   2,239,172     663,870   1,356,066

Ingots And Steel For Castings          5,979      11,553      26,025      33,884
Blooms, Billets And Slabs            152,037     334,435     126,305     185,481
Wire Rods                             33,434      80,085      28,132      46,292
Structural Shapes Heavy                2,644       8,893       1,620       4,907
Plates Cut Lengths                    28,179      72,591      21,652      40,223
Plates In Coils                       29,325      80,862      22,830      39,578
Bars - Hot Rolled                     18,135      55,043      12,030      24,540
Bars - Light Shaped                   12,301      32,980       8,745      18,525
Bars - Cold Finished                  54,378     165,721      47,668     108,677
Stainless Pipe & Tubing               98,924     422,313      78,451     279,868
Wire Drawn                            34,490     128,803      28,284      87,635
Sheets Hot Rolled                     12,199      28,313      11,369      15,476
Sheets Cold Rolled                   300,549     695,757     216,929     369,931
Strip - Hot Rolled                     1,455       3,628         304         714
Strip - Cold Rolled                   35,338     118,196      33,525     100,335
                                           
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 (301-763-6959) or Vanessa Ware
(301-763-2311), Foreign Trade Division, U.S. Census Bureau.

SOURCE:  U.S. Imports for Consumption of Steel Products: Preliminary
December 2004 (CB-05-09)