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

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

Total Selected Commodities           857,715   4,308,936     956,039   4,826,268

Ingots And Steel For Castings         16,691      66,396      14,556      62,829
Blooms, Billets And Slabs             88,842     407,522      93,848     474,165
Wire Rods                             20,512      92,011      22,258     109,455
Structural Shapes Heavy                2,165      11,688       2,539      15,269
Plates Cut Lengths                    52,631     262,488      74,417     433,884
Plates In Coils                       22,333     108,931      43,484     246,930
Bars - Hot Rolled                     28,358     165,146      24,464     135,140
Bars - Light Shaped                    7,481      38,387       4,405      23,346
Bars - Cold Finished                  69,758     415,500      71,659     409,700
Oil Country Goods                     41,825     158,034      60,666     182,529
Line Pipe > 16 Inches In Diamete         111         674          63         284
Line Pipe <= 16 Inches In Diamet       2,884      17,558      23,630      27,011
Line Pipe - Not Specified                253       1,885      20,577      21,104
Stainless Pipe & Tubing              106,824     919,973     136,555   1,018,231
Wire Drawn                            33,654     213,765      36,123     235,613
Sheets Hot Rolled                     26,837      57,173      16,224      38,314
Sheets Cold Rolled                   299,023   1,179,141     276,040   1,202,639
Strip - Hot Rolled                     1,575       7,716       2,567      10,632
Strip - Cold Rolled                   35,957     184,949      31,964     179,191
                                           

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
November 2008 (CB-08-186)