[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 138 (Wednesday, July 19, 1995)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 36951-36952]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-17740]
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Rules and Regulations
Federal Register
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Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 138 / Wednesday, July 19, 1995 /
Rules and Regulations
[[Page 36951]]
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Agricultural Marketing Service
7 CFR Part 989
[FV95-989-2FIR]
Raisins Produced From Grapes Grown In California; Final Free and
Reserve Percentages for the 1994-95 Crop Year for Natural (sun-dried)
Seedless Raisins
AGENCY: Agricultural Marketing Service, USDA.
ACTION: Final rule.
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SUMMARY: The Department of Agriculture (Department) is adopting,
without change, the provisions of an interim final rule which
established final free and reserve percentages for 1994-95 crop Natural
(sun-dried) Seedless raisins. The percentages are 77 percent free and
23 percent reserve. These percentages are intended to stabilize
supplies and prices and to help counter the destabilizing effects of
the burdensome oversupply situation facing the raisin industry. This
rule was recommended by the Raisin Administrative Committee
(Committee), the body which locally administers the marketing order.
EFFECTIVE DATE: August 18, 1995.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Richard Van Diest, Marketing
Specialist, California Marketing Field Office, Fruit and Vegetable
Division, AMS, USDA, 2202 Monterey Street, suite 102B, Fresno,
California 93721; telephone: 209-487-5901 or Mark A. Slupek, Marketing
Specialist, Marketing Order Administration Branch, Fruit and Vegetable
Division, AMS, USDA, room 2523-S, P.O. Box 96456, Washington, DC 20090-
6456; telephone: 202-205-2830.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This final rule is issued under marketing
agreement and Order No. 989 (7 CFR part 989), both as amended,
regulating the handling of raisins produced from grapes grown in
California, hereinafter referred to as the ``order.'' The order is
effective under the Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937, as
amended (7 U.S.C. 601-674), hereinafter referred to as the ``Act.''
The Department of Agriculture (Department) is issuing this rule in
conformance with Executive Order 12866.
This final rule has been reviewed under Executive Order 12778,
Civil Justice Reform. Under the marketing order provisions now in
effect, final free and reserve percentages may be established for
raisins acquired by handlers during the crop year. This action
finalizes final free and reserve percentages for Natural (sun-dried)
Seedless raisins for the 1994-95 crop year, beginning August 1, 1994,
through July 31, 1995. This final rule will not preempt any State or
local laws, regulations, or policies, unless they present an
irreconcilable conflict with this rule.
The Act provides that administrative proceedings must be exhausted
before parties may file suit in court. Under section 608c(15)(A) of the
Act, any handler subject to an order may file with the Secretary a
petition stating that the order, any provision of the order, or any
obligation imposed in connection with the order is not in accordance
with law and requesting a modification of the order or to be exempt
therefrom. Such handler is afforded the opportunity for a hearing on
the petition. After the hearing, the Secretary would rule on the
petition. The Act provides that the district court of the United States
in any district in which the handler is an inhabitant, or has his/her
principal place of business, has jurisdiction in equity to review the
Secretary's ruling on the petition, provided a bill in equity is filed
not later than 20 days after the date of the entry of the ruling.
Pursuant to requirements set forth in the Regulatory Flexibility
Act (RFA), the Administrator of the Agricultural Marketing Service
(AMS) has considered the economic impact of this action on small
entities.
The purpose of the RFA is to fit regulatory actions to the scale of
business subject to such actions in order that small businesses will
not be unduly or disproportionately burdened. Marketing orders issued
pursuant to the Act, and rules issued thereunder, are unique in that
they are brought about through group action of essentially small
entities acting on their own behalf. Thus, both statutes have small
entity orientation and compatibility.
There are approximately 20 handlers of California raisins who are
subject to regulation under the raisin marketing order, and
approximately 4,500 producers in the regulated area. Small agricultural
service firms have been defined by the Small Business Administration
(13 CFR 121.601) as those whose annual receipts (from all sources) are
less than $5,000,000, and small agricultural producers are defined as
those having annual receipts of less than $500,000. No more than eight
handlers, and a majority of producers, of California raisins may be
classified as small entities. Twelve of the 20 handlers subject to
regulation have annual sales estimated to be at least $5,000,000, and
the remaining eight handlers have sales less than $5,000,000, excluding
receipts from any other sources.
An interim final rule was published in the Federal Register on May
17, 1995 (60 FR 26344), with an effective date of May 17, 1995. That
rule established final free and reserve percentages for Natural (sun-
dried) Seedless raisins for the 1994-95 crop year. The percentages were
established in a new section 989.248 of the rules and regulations in
effect under the marketing order. That rule provided a 30-day comment
period which ended June 16, 1995. No comments were received.
The order prescribes procedures for computing trade demands and
preliminary and final percentages that establish the amount of raisins
that can be marketed throughout the season. The regulations apply to
all handlers of California raisins. Raisins in the free percentage
category may be shipped immediately to any market, while reserve
raisins must be held by handlers in a reserve pool for the account of
the Committee. Under the order, reserve raisins may be: Sold at a later
date by the Committee to handlers for free use; used in diversion
programs; exported to authorized countries; carried over as a hedge
against a short crop the following year; or disposed of in other
outlets noncompetitive with those for free tonnage raisins.
[[Page 36952]]
While this rule continues in effect restrictions limiting the
amount of Natural (sun-dried) Seedless raisins that enter domestic
markets, final free and reserve percentages are intended to lessen the
impact of the oversupply situation facing the industry and promote
stronger marketing conditions, thus stabilizing prices and supplies and
improving grower returns. In addition to the quantity of raisins
released under the preliminary percentages and the final percentages,
the order specifies methods to make available additional raisins to
handlers by requiring sales of reserve pool raisins for use as free
tonnage raisins under ``10 plus 10'' offers, and authorizing sales of
reserve raisins under certain conditions.
The Department's ``Guidelines for Fruit, Vegetable, and Specialty
Crop Marketing Orders'' specifies that 110 percent of recent years'
sales should be made available to primary markets each season before
recommendations for volume regulation are approved. This goal is met by
the establishment of a final percentage which releases 100 percent of
the computed trade demand and the additional release of reserve raisins
to handlers under ``10 plus 10'' offers. The ``10 plus 10'' offers are
two simultaneous offers of reserve pool raisins which are made
available to handlers each season. For each such offer, a quantity of
raisins equal to 10 percent of the prior year's shipments is made
available for free use.
Pursuant to section 989.54(a) of the order, the Committee met on
August 15, 1994, to review shipment and inventory data, and other
matters relating to the supplies of raisins of all varietal types. The
Committee computed a trade demand for each varietal type for which a
free tonnage percentage might be recommended. The trade demand is 90
percent of the prior year's shipments of free tonnage and reserve
tonnage raisins sold for free use for each varietal type into all
market outlets, adjusted by subtracting the carryin of each varietal
type on August 1 of the current crop year and by adding to the trade
demand the desirable carryout for each varietal type at the end of that
crop year. As specified in section 989.154, the desirable carryout for
each varietal type shall be equal to the shipments of free tonnage
raisins of the prior crop year during the months of August, September,
and one half of October. If the prior year's shipments are limited
because of crop conditions, the total shipments during that period of
time during one of the three years preceding the prior crop year may be
used. In accordance with these provisions, the Committee computed and
announced a 1994-95 trade demand of 294,422 tons for Natural (sun-
dried) Seedless raisins.
As required under section 989.54(b) of the order, the Committee met
on October 5, 1994, and computed and announced a preliminary crop
estimate and preliminary free and reserve percentages for Natural (sun-
dried) Seedless raisins which released 65 percent of the trade demand
since the field price had not been established. The preliminary crop
estimate and preliminary free and reserve percentages were as follows:
404,677 tons, and 47 percent free and 53 percent reserve. The Committee
authorized the Committee staff to modify the preliminary percentages to
release 85 percent of the trade demand when the field price was
established. The preliminary percentages for Natural (sun-dried)
Seedless raisins were adjusted soon thereafter to 62 percent free and
38 percent reserve.
Also at that meeting, the Committee computed and announced
preliminary crop estimates and preliminary free and reserve percentages
for Dipped Seedless, Oleate and Related Seedless, Golden Seedless,
Zante Currant, Sultana, Muscat, Monukka, and Other Seedless raisins. On
January 12, 1995, the Committee determined that volume control
percentages only were warranted for Zante Currant, Other Seedless, and
Natural (sun-dried) Seedless raisins, and it recommended final
percentages of 40 percent free and 60 percent reserve for both Zante
Currant and Other Seedless raisins. It determined that the supplies of
the other varietal types would be less than or close enough to the
computed trade demands for each of these varietals. In view of these
factors, volume control percentages would not be necessary to maintain
market stability for the other varietal types.
Pursuant to section 989.54(c), the Committee may adopt interim free
and reserve percentages. Interim percentages may release less than the
computed trade demand for each varietal type. Interim percentages for
Natural (sun-dried) Seedless raisins of 75 percent free and 25 percent
reserve were computed and announced on January 15, 1995. That action
released most, but not all, of the computed trade demand for Natural
(sun-dried) Seedless raisins.
Under section 989.54(d) of the order, the Committee is required to
recommend to the Secretary, no later than February 15 of each crop
year, final free and reserve percentages which, when applied to the
final production estimate of a varietal type, will tend to release the
full trade demand for any varietal type.
The Committee's final estimate of 1994-95 production of Natural
(sun-dried) Seedless raisins is 379,972 tons. Dividing the computed
trade demand of 294,422 tons by the final estimate of production
results in a final free percentage of 77 percent and a final reserve
percentage of 23 percent.
The free and reserve percentages established by the interim final
rule, and continued in effect, without change, by this rule, apply
uniformly to all handlers in the industry, whether small or large, and
there are no known additional costs incurred by small handlers.
Although raisin markets are limited, they are available to all
handlers, regardless of size. The stabilizing effects of the
percentages impact both small and large handlers positively by helping
them maintain and expand markets.
Based on available information, the Administrator of the AMS has
determined that the issuance of this final rule will not have a
significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities.
After consideration of all relevant information presented,
including the Committee's recommendations and other information, it is
found that finalizing the interim final rule, without change, as
published in the Federal Register on May 17, 1995 (60 FR 26344) will
tend to effectuate the declared policy of the Act.
List of Subjects in 7 CFR Part 989
Grapes, Marketing agreements, Raisins, Reporting and recordkeeping
requirements.
For the reasons set forth in the preamble, 7 CFR Part 989 is
amended as follows:
PART 989--RAISINS PRODUCED FROM GRAPES GROWN IN CALIFORNIA
Accordingly, the interim final rule adding section 989.248, which
was published at 60 FR 26344 on May 17, 1995, is adopted as a final
rule without change.
Dated: July 13, 1995.
Sharon Bomer Lauritsen,
Deputy Director, Fruit and Vegetable Division.
[FR Doc. 95-17740 Filed 7-18-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-02-P
