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
                                           

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

Total Selected Commodities           885,591   3,022,794     916,583   2,521,984

Ingots And Steel For Castings         16,573      44,096       8,560      17,200
Blooms, Billets And Slabs            128,035     363,197     166,557     370,850
Wire Rods                             35,593     100,398      37,593      90,364
Structural Shapes Heavy                1,500       6,229       2,838       9,513
Plates Cut Lengths                    42,778     155,607      30,591      80,247
Plates In Coils                       32,898     101,014      31,679      87,109
Bars - Hot Rolled                     22,686      92,712      19,700      60,598
Bars - Light Shaped                    6,913      21,730      13,533      36,611
Bars - Cold Finished                  92,340     357,077      61,797     190,258
Stainless Pipe & Tubing              121,963     657,324     107,949     464,946
Wire Drawn                            39,777     173,951      38,086     142,706
Sheets Hot Rolled                     13,978      27,291      15,378      36,505
Sheets Cold Rolled                   289,837     760,682     341,503     800,017
Strip - Hot Rolled                     3,425       9,926       1,570       3,942
Strip - Cold Rolled                   37,297     151,560      39,249     131,117
                                           
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
January 2006 (CB-06-29)