Eight nations are the target of a steel inquiry.

The Commerce Department said it has begun an investigation into whether steel from eight countries was being sold in the United States at less than fair value. The countries involved are Austria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Venezuela. Through last September, those nations had shipped $217 million of steel products to the United States in 1984. The investigation is being launched in response to a petition filed by U.S. Steel Corp. on Dec. 19.