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

                                September 2008          September 2007
                                Cumulative to           Cumulative to
                                Date - Final            Date - Final
Commodity
Grouping                        Quantity    Value       Quantity    Value

Total Selected Commodities           778,233   3,917,157     880,762   4,419,548

Ingots And Steel For Castings         15,233      60,289      12,876      55,428
Blooms, Billets And Slabs             78,860     365,714      86,039     437,323
Wire Rods                             18,580      84,015      20,567     101,383
Structural Shapes Heavy                1,991      10,847       2,411      14,416
Plates Cut Lengths                    48,292     243,739      70,024     409,912
Plates In Coils                       20,687     100,326      40,971     234,332
Bars - Hot Rolled                     25,416     147,748      21,696     118,749
Bars - Light Shaped                    6,877      35,576       4,086      21,654
Bars - Cold Finished                  63,677     378,740      64,230     363,807
Oil Country Goods                     35,085     134,104      56,868     164,624
Line Pipe > 16 Inches In Diamete         111         674          35         184
Line Pipe <= 16 Inches In Diamet       2,874      17,464      23,360      25,880
Line Pipe - Not Specified                253       1,885      20,170      19,394
Stainless Pipe & Tubing               96,116     826,379     124,530     911,408
Wire Drawn                            30,418     193,025      32,485     212,646
Sheets Hot Rolled                     24,099      51,525      14,644      34,833
Sheets Cold Rolled                   275,000   1,088,395     254,950   1,122,242
Strip - Hot Rolled                     1,565       7,662       2,471      10,126
Strip - Cold Rolled                   33,099     169,051      28,347     161,207
                                           

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 Maria Iseman
(301-763-2311), Foreign Trade Division, U.S. Census Bureau.

SOURCE:  U.S. Imports for Consumption of Steel Products: Preliminary
October 2008 (CB-08-169)