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
                                           

                                      January 2005              January 2004
                                      Cumulative to             Cumulative to
                                      Date - Final              Date - Final
Commodity
Grouping                        Quantity    Value       Quantity    Value

Total Selected Commodities            79,185     250,505      52,628     121,063

Ingots And Steel For Castings          2,128       4,322         125         190
Blooms, Billets And Slabs              6,855      20,358       7,875      14,375
Wire Rods                              4,276      10,986       1,515       2,803
Structural Shapes Heavy                  153         653         180         516
Plates Cut Lengths                     2,663       8,444       2,084       4,321
Plates In Coils                        2,015       5,791       1,224       2,509
Bars - Hot Rolled                      1,560       5,784         840       2,254
Bars - Light Shaped                    1,054       3,147         918       1,822
Bars - Cold Finished                   7,316      27,550       3,709       9,751
Stainless Pipe & Tubing               10,022      47,962       8,327      27,522
Wire Drawn                             3,322      13,719       2,762       8,592
Sheets Hot Rolled                      1,054       2,267         280         488
Sheets Cold Rolled                    33,058      85,955      19,819      37,053
Strip - Hot Rolled                        62         159         112         197
Strip - Cold Rolled                    3,647      13,408       2,857       8,672
                                           
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
February 2005 (CB-05-41)