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

Total Selected Commodities           681,711   2,326,150     648,974   1,747,844

Ingots And Steel For Castings         11,853      29,505       4,172       7,978
Blooms, Billets And Slabs            103,950     294,254     117,414     251,989
Wire Rods                             29,221      81,889      25,052      59,002
Structural Shapes Heavy                1,226       5,116       2,210       7,151
Plates Cut Lengths                    30,446     117,785      23,406      57,100
Plates In Coils                       27,635      85,803      25,546      69,693
Bars - Hot Rolled                     17,468      69,363      15,042      44,343
Bars - Light Shaped                    5,151      16,565      10,268      27,048
Bars - Cold Finished                  71,545     274,591      43,789     129,422
Stainless Pipe & Tubing               92,447     487,730      82,302     345,429
Wire Drawn                            30,265     132,468      27,859     103,061
Sheets Hot Rolled                      9,221      18,154       7,081      14,486
Sheets Cold Rolled                   220,501     589,657     236,357     535,751
Strip - Hot Rolled                     2,059       6,098       1,199       2,930
Strip - Cold Rolled                   28,724     117,174      27,277      92,461
                                           
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
October 2005 (CB-05-167)