rst introduced in the United States in 1888, made it easier to use domestic iron ores. By the 1880s, the growing demand for steel rails made the United States the world's largest producer. The open-hearth process dominated the steel industry between 1910 and 1960, when it converted to the oxygen process, which produces steel faster, and the electric furnace process, which makes it easier to produce alloys such as stainless steel. After World War II, the U.S. steel industry faced increased competition from Japanese and European producers, who rebuilt and modernized their industries. Later, many Third World countries such as Brazil built their own steel industries and large U.S. steelmakers faced increased competition from smaller, nonunion mills. The U.S. produced abouthalf of the world's steel in 1945; by 1991 it was the third largest producer, with only 11% of the world market, behind the former Soviet Union and Japan. Since the 1970s, growing competition and the increasing availability of alternative materials, such as plastic, slowed steel industry growth; employment in the United States steel industry dropped from 2.5 million in 1974 to 1.6 million in 1991. Global production stood at 736 million tons in1991, down from 786million tons in 1988 (The Columbia Encyclopedia, 1993).DUMPINGColumbia Encyclopedia, (1993) defined dumping as the selling of goods at less than normal price, usually as exports in international trade. It may be done by a producer, a group of producers, or a nation. However, dumping is usually done to drive competitors off the market and secure a monopoly, and/or to hinder foreign competition. Nations, in an effort to counterbalance international dumping, often resorted to flexible tariffs. International trade through acute competition from foreign producers often leads to dumping infractions of law. A policy regarding dumping, depends on its effectiveness in maintaining separate domestic and foreign marke...
