[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 20 (Tuesday, January 30, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Page 3000]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-1612]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Foreign-Trade Zones Board
[Docket 6-96]
Foreign-Trade Zone 14--Little Rock, AR Application for Subzone;
Cedar Chemical Corporation (Agricultural and Specialty Chemicals) West
Helena, AR
An application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board
(the Board) by the Little Rock Port Authority on behalf of the State of
Arkansas Department of Industrial Development, grantee of FTZ 14,
requesting special-purpose subzone status for the agricultural and
specialty chemical manufacturing facility of Cedar Chemical Corporation
(Cedar) (wholly-owned subsidiary of Trans-Resources, Inc.), in West
Helena, Arkansas. The application was submitted pursuant to the
provisions of the Foreign-Trade Zones Act, as amended (19 U.S.C. 81a-
81u), and the regulations of the Board (15 CFR part 400). It was
formally filed on January 19, 1996.
The Cedar plant (48 acres) is located within the Helena/West Helena
Industrial Park at Hwy. 242 South, West Helena (Phillips County),
Arkansas, some 120 miles east of Little Rock. The facility is used to
produce agricultural chemicals, chemicals for the pharmaceutical
industry and other specialty chemical products. A substantial portion
of the plant's activity involves contract manufacturing. The main
products currently manufactured at the plant are Diuron Technical and
Linuron Technical bulk herbicides and Trometamol, a pH buffering agent
for pharmaceutical and industrial applications and a custom-
manufactured herbicide intermediate for a global agricultural chemical
producer. Some 50 percent of the Cedar-brand products are exported.
Zone procedures would exempt Cedar from Customs duty payments on
foreign materials used in production for export. On domestic shipments,
the company or its customers (operating under zone procedures) would be
able to choose the duty rates that apply to the finished products
instead of the duty-rates that would otherwise apply to the foreign-
sourced materials. The HTSUS category and duty rates for the final
products and associated inputs are as follows:
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Final product/input HTSUS No. Duty rate
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DIURON TECHNICAL/3,4-dichlorophenyl isocyanate. 2924.21.1600 12.8%
2929.10.3000 $0.026/kg + 15.2%
LINURON TECHNICAL/3,4-dichlorophenyl isocyanate 2924.21.1600 12.8%
2929.10.3000 $0.026/kg + 15.2%
HERBICIDE (for customer)/benzoic acid compounds 2935.00.1300 duty-free
2916.31.5000 $0.03/kg + 16.8%
TROMETAMOL/nitromethane........................ 2922.21.1600 duty-free
2904.20.5000 7.4%
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At the outset, the main use of zone procedures would be to allow a
customer (operating under zone procedures) choose the duty rate that
applies to its finished product (duty-free) rather than the duty rate
that would otherwise apply to the foreign-sourced item ($0.03/kg +
16.8%). The application indicates that the savings from zone procedures
will help improve the international competitiveness of Cedar and its
customers.
In accordance with the Board's regulations, a member of the FTZ
Staff has been designated examiner to investigate the application and
report to the Board.
Public comment is invited from interested parties. Submissions
(original and 3 copies) shall be addressed to the Board's Executive
Secretary at the address below. The closing period for their receipt is
April 1, 1996. Rebuttal comments in response to material submitted
during the foregoing period may be submitted during the subsequent 15-
day period (to April 15, 1996.)
A copy of the application and accompanying exhibits will be
available for public inspection at each of the following locations:
U.S. Department of Commerce District Office, TCBY Tower Bldg., Suite
700, 425 West Capitol Ave., Little Rock, Arkansas 72201
Office of the Executive Secretary, Foreign-Trade Zones Board, U.S.
Department of Commerce, Room 3716, 14th and Pennsylvania Avenue, NW.,
Washington, DC 20230
Dated: January 22, 1996.
John J. Da Ponte, Jr.,
Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. 96-1612 Filed 1-29-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P
