Opinion ID: 278888
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: the foreign market

Text: 20 In 1954, Luria directed its efforts toward securing a hold in the export market. In 1953, the European Common Market countries had formed a central buying office to purchase scrap required by foreign steel mills. This office, OCCF, contacted Luria, Schiavone-Bonomo, and Western Steel International Corporation for the purpose of obtaining a scrap broker in the United States. The three concerns negotiated a contract with OCCF on July 14, 1954 providing that the three would provide all scrap to be purchased by OCCF until December 31, 1954. By subsequent arrangement, the contract was extended until December 31, 1955. Between 1954 and 1956, the six Common Market countries purchased between 66 and 84 percent of the total scrap exported from the Unied States to Europe. In 1954, the Luria group supplied 90 percent and in 1955, 95 percent of total scrap purchased by OCCF from the United States. 21 The agreement with OCCF had a substantial effect on Luria's domestic competitiors since in 1954, Luria foreclosed 80 percent of the domestic scrap market in the North Atlantic area. With only 20 percent of the domestic market available, Luria's competitors were forced to dispose of their scrap abroad. Since the six Common Market countries purchased between 66 and 84 percent of the total scrap exported to Europe in the period between 1954 and 1956, Luria's competitors were effectively barred from both the domestic and foreign scrap markets.