DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Foreign-Trade Zones Board
[Docket No. 44-84]
49 FR 40068
October 12, 1984
Foreign-Trade Zone 9, Honolulu, HI; Application for Subzone at Dole
Pineapple Plant
TEXT: An application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board
(the Board) on behalf of the State of Hawaii, grantee of Foreign-Trade Zone
9, by the Hawaii State Department of Planning and Economic Development,
requesting special-purpose subzone status for the pineapple cannery of Dole
Processed Food Company, a division of Castle & Cooke, Inc., located in
Honolulu, Hawaii, within the Honolulu Customs port of entry. 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 October 2, 1984. The
applicant is authorized to make this proposal under Act 7 of the Session
Laws of Hawaii, 1963.
The proposed subzone is located at Dole's cannery and can-making
facility, 650 Iwilei Road, Honolulu. The 55-acre facility produces canned
pineapple and pineapple juice and juice concentrate. The fresh pineapple
and most of the juice are of domestic origin. The tin plate used to make
the cans has traditionally been sourced abroad. About 6 percent of the
canned products are exported.
Zone procedures would allow Dole to take advantage of the same duty-free
treatment that is in effect for foreign producers of canned pineapple with
respect to tin plate and cans. The duty rate for tin plate is 3.9 percent,
whereas tin cans imported as containers with merchandise are dutiable only
as part of the value of their contents. In the case of pineapple, foreign
canners have an even greater cost advantage because the duties are
"specific", based on net weight, and the cans enter duty free.
Offshore producers have captured 60 percent of the U.S. market for
pineapple products in recent years. During the past 15 years the number of
companies processing pineapple in Hawaii has decreased from nine to the two
that are now in operation, with a 50 percent decline in employment. In an
effort to prevent a further decline in its domestic production, Dole has
embarked on a major cost reduction program. The duty exemption on tin plate
that would be provided under subzone procedures would play an important
role in helping the company increase its price competitiveness.
In accordance with the Board's regulations, an examiners committee has
been appointed to investigate the application and report on the Board. The
committee consists of: Dennis Puccinelli (Chairman), Foreign-Trade Zones
Staff, U.S. Department of Commerce, Washington, D.C. 20230; George Roberts,
District Director, U.S. Customs Service, Pacific Region, 335 Merchant, 228
Federal Bldg., P.O. Box 1641, Honolulu, HI 96806; and Colonel Michael M.
Jenks, District Engineer, U.S. Army Engineer District Honolulu, Building
230, Ft. Shafter, HI 96858.
Comments concerning the proposed subzone are invited in writing from
interested persons and organizations. They should be addressed to the
Board's Executive Secretary at the address below and postmarked on or
before November 14, 1984.
A copy of the application is available for public inspection at each of
the following locations:
U.S. Dept. of Commerce District Office,
4106 Federal Building,
300 Ala Moana Boulevard,
P.O. Box 40026,
Honolulu, HI 96850
Office of the Executive Secretary,
Foreign-Trade Zones Board,
U.S. Department of Commerce, Room 1529,
14th and Pennsylvania NW.,
Washington, D.C. 20230
Dated: October 5, 1984.
John J. Da Ponte, Jr.,
Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. 84-27014 Filed 10-11-84; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-M