DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Foreign-Trade Zones Board
[Docket No. 43-85]
50 FR 52350
December 23, 1985
Foreign-Trade Zone 14 -- Little Rock, AR; Application For Subzone Polar
Stainless Products Sink Plant, Searcy
TEXT: 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, grantee of Foreign-Trade Zone 14, requesting special-purpose
subzone status for the stainless steel sink manufacturing plant of Polar
Stainless Products, Inc. (Polar), in Searcy, White County, Arkansas, some
45 miles northwest of the Little Rock 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 December 9, 1985.
The proposed subzone is located at 920 E. Lincoln Avenue, Searcy. The
12.5-acre facility employs 171 persons and is used to produce stainless
steel sinks for home and commercial uses. Polar has been purchasing most
of its stainless steel sheet and strip from domestic sources. Because of
increasing foreign competition, the company plans to purchase about 50
percent of its steel from lower-cost foreign sources. Polar exports over
6 percent of its production.
Zone procedures would allow Polar to avoid duty payments on the foreign
steel used in its exports. On its domestic sales, the company would be
able to take advantage of the normal duty rate available to importers of
sinks, which is 4.7 percent. Stainless steel sheet and strip is subject
to a 10-percent basic duty rate. An additional 6 percent duty is in effect
under an ITC Escape Clause action. Polar states that it cannot maintain
its domestic production without turning to lower cost foreign materials,
because of the price competitiveness of sinks made abroad.
In accordance with the Board's regulations, an examiners committee has
been appointed to investigate the application and report to the Board. The
committee consists of: Dennis Puccinelli (Chairman), Foreign-Trade Zones
Staff, U.S. Department of Commerce, Washington, DC 20230; Joel Mish,
District Director, U.S. Customs Service, South Central Region, 423 Canal
St., New Orleans, LA 70130; and Colonel Robert W. Whitehead, District
Engineer, U.S. Army Engineer District Little Rock, P.O. Box 867, Little
Rock AR 72203.
Comments concerning the proposed subzone are invited in writing from
interested parties. They should be addressed to the Board's Executive
Secretary at the address below and postmarked on or before February 7, 1986.
A copy of the application is available for public inspection at each of
the following locations:
U.S. Dept. of Commerce District Office,
Suite 635, Savers Federal Bldg.,
320 W. Capitol Ave.,
Little Rock, AR 72201
Office of the Executive Secretary,
Foreign-Trade Zones Board,
U.S. Department of Commerce, Room 1529,
14th and Pennsylvania Ave., NW.,
Washington, DC 20230
Dated: December 16, 1985.
John J. Da Ponte, Jr.,
Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. 85-30282 Filed 12-20-85; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-M