Exhibit 2B:  U.S. Imports for Consumption of Stainless Steel
Products:  (Census Basis)
Not Seasonally Adjusted

Quantity in metric tons/ value in thousands of dollars.
Details may not equal totals due to rounding

                                August 2006             August 2005
                                Cumulative to           Cumulative to
                                Date - Final            Date - Final
Commodity
Grouping                        Quantity    Value       Quantity    Value

Total Selected Commodities           678,940   2,297,152     613,806   2,099,414

Ingots And Steel For Castings         13,350      33,293      11,173      27,233
Blooms, Billets And Slabs             76,906     226,646      96,563     272,593
Wire Rods                             16,486      44,750      27,355      75,886
Structural Shapes Heavy                1,459       5,215       1,166       4,877
Plates Cut Lengths                    35,870     138,548      26,590     106,182
Plates In Coils                       25,498      72,218      24,190      75,541
Bars - Hot Rolled                     14,099      66,721      15,252      60,476
Bars - Light Shaped                    6,591      20,028       4,730      15,228
Bars - Cold Finished                  56,568     220,086      65,556     251,456
Stainless Pipe & Tubing               88,878     509,020      82,727     436,425
Wire Drawn                            29,146     129,986      27,446     120,326
Sheets Hot Rolled                     16,144      23,650       7,841      14,967
Sheets Cold Rolled                   269,674     696,091     195,516     526,979
Strip - Hot Rolled                     2,083       5,784       1,299       3,606
Strip - Cold Rolled                   26,188     105,117      26,404     107,642
                                           

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
September 2006 (CB-06-158)