diff --git a/addressbook/csv_import.php b/addressbook/csv_import.php
index 7791792c12..accdb1772e 100644
--- a/addressbook/csv_import.php
+++ b/addressbook/csv_import.php
@@ -90,9 +90,7 @@
 			return '';
 		}
 
-		$cats = split('[,;]',$cats);
-
-		while(list($k,$cat) = each($cats))
+		foreach(split('[,;]',$cats) as $cat)
 		{
 			if(isset($cat2id[$cat]))
 			{
@@ -104,7 +102,11 @@
 				{
 					$GLOBALS['phpgw']->categories = createobject('phpgwapi.categories');
 				}
-				if($id = $GLOBALS['phpgw']->categories->name2id(addslashes($cat)))
+				if (is_numeric($cat) && $GLOBALS['phpgw']->categories->id2name($cat) != '--')
+				{
+					$cat2id[$cat] = $ids[$cat] = $cat;
+				}	
+				elseif ($id = $GLOBALS['phpgw']->categories->name2id(addslashes($cat)))
 				{	// cat exists
 					$cat2id[$cat] = $ids[$cat] = $id;
 				}