Today I would like to discuss with you the international iron ore industry in general and the market for iron ore in Japan in particular. The international iron ore industry is only about 15 years old but in its brief life has undergone far-reaching changes that have had and will have repercussions on the relative competitive positions of the world's steel producing centers. As late as 1950 the steel industry of the world was largely concentrated in three clusters (the U. S., Europe, and Japan), each virtually self-sufficient insofar as iron ore supplies were concerned. Imported ore played only a minor role in the U. S, and Europe and even in the case of Japan came from nearby sources in Malaya and the Philippines. However, the exhaustion of economic domestic reserves and the unexpected rapid growth in post-war iron ore consumption caused fears of a possible iron ore shortage and quickly produced a response in the form of an intensive search for new ore sources abroad. Thus the international iron ore industry was conceived but the magnitude of its growth has been greatly stimulated by the revolution in ocean transportation that followed it - the replacement of conventional ships with much larger ships specially designed for the bulk cargo trade. In the 1950's the world was to double its estimated iron ore reserves. The international trade in iron ore increased four-fold, and at least 13 underdeveloped countries and Canada came to depend