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
                                           

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

Total Selected Commodities           243,568     783,533     184,416     456,422

Ingots And Steel For Castings          5,772      13,701         594         939
Blooms, Billets And Slabs             38,941     104,121      32,442      63,850
Wire Rods                             10,410      27,838       6,032      12,779
Structural Shapes Heavy                  456       1,807         794       1,998
Plates Cut Lengths                     9,797      34,950       7,610      17,224
Plates In Coils                        6,719      20,154       6,483      15,683
Bars - Hot Rolled                      5,524      21,107       4,728      13,233
Bars - Light Shaped                    2,724       8,292       3,944       8,942
Bars - Cold Finished                  22,620      87,796      12,095      31,499
Stainless Pipe & Tubing               29,340     143,972      24,673      93,672
Wire Drawn                             9,974      41,130       8,974      29,670
Sheets Hot Rolled                      2,390       4,556       1,385       2,595
Sheets Cold Rolled                    89,166     235,546      65,589     136,026
Strip - Hot Rolled                       214         493         197         346
Strip - Cold Rolled                    9,523      38,069       8,876      27,966
                                           
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
April 2005 (CB-05-69)