[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:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
              Final product/input                    HTSUS No.                       Duty rate                  
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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%                                         
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    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