[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 106 (Friday, May 31, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 27330-27331]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-13646]
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Secretary of Agriculture's Special Cotton Import Quota
Announcement Number 14
AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, USDA.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: A special import quota for upland cotton equal to 41,858,494
kilograms (92,282,258 pounds) is established in accordance with section
136(b) of the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996
(the 1996 Act) under Presidential Proclamation 6301 of June 7, 1991.
The quota is referenced as the Secretary of Agriculture's Special
Cotton Import Quota Announcement Number 14, effective June 3, 1996, and
is set forth in subheading 9903.52.14, subchapter III, chapter 99 of
the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS).
DATES: The quota was established on June 3, 1996, and applies to upland
cotton purchased not later than August 31, 1996 (90 days from the date
the quota was established), and entered into the United States not
later than November 29, 1996 (180 days from the date the quota was
established).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Janise Zygmont, Farm Service Agency,
United States Department of Agriculture, room 3756-S, Ag Code 0515, PO
Box 2415, Washington, DC 20013-2415 or call (202) 720-8841.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 1996 Act requires that a special cotton
import quota be determined and announced immediately if, for any
consecutive 10-week period, the Friday through Thursday average price
quotation for the lowest-priced U.S. growth, as quoted for Middling
1\3/32\ inch cotton, C.I.F. northern Europe (U.S. Northern Europe
price), adjusted for the value of any cotton user marketing
certificates issued, exceeds the Northern Europe price by more than
1.25 cents per pound. This condition was met during the consecutive 10-
week period that ended April 18, 1996. Therefore, a quota referenced as
the Secretary of Agriculture's Special Cotton Import Quota Announcement
Number 14, effective June 3, 1996, is hereby established.
Because there are only twenty subheadings available for designating
upland cotton special import quotas in subchapter III of chapter 99 of
the HTS, only twenty such quotas can be in effect at one time. Each
subheading corresponds to a Secretary of Agriculture's Special Cotton
Import Quota Announcement specifying that a particular amount of upland
cotton may be imported during a particular 180-day period. The twenty-
first consecutive
[[Page 27331]]
quota cannot be established until the earliest of the existing twenty
quotas ends. Therefore, the special import quota described in this
notice opened on June 3, 1996--the day after the quota 14 in existence
at the time of the announcement ended.
The quota amount, 41,858,494 kilograms (92,282,258 pounds), is
equal to 1 week's consumption of upland cotton by domestic mills at the
seasonally-adjusted average rate of the most recent 3 months for which
data are available--December 1995 through February 1996. The special
cotton import quota identifies a quantity of imports that is not
subject to the over-quota tariff rate of a tariff-rate quota. The quota
is not divided by staple length or by country of origin. The quota does
not affect existing tariff rates or phytosanitary regulations. The
quota does not apply to Extra Long Staple cotton.
Authority: Sec. 136, P.L. 104-127 and U.S. Note 6(a), Subchapter
III, Chapter 99 of the HTS.
Signed at Washington, D.C. on May 21, 1996.
Dan Glickman,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 96-13646 Filed 5-30-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-05-P
