(Cite as: 58 FR 11208)
NOTICES
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Foreign-Trade Zones Board
(Docket 5-93)
Foreign-Trade Zone 86--Tacoma, WA; Application for Subzone, Toray Carbon
Fiber
Composite Plant, Tacoma, WA
Wednesday, February 24, 1993
An application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board (the
Board) by the Port of Tacoma, grantee of FTZ 86, requesting special-purpose
subzone status for the carbon fiber composite materials manufacturing plant
of Toray Composites (America), Inc. (TCA) (subsidiary of Toray Industries,
Inc., of Japan) in Tacoma, Washington, within the Tacoma 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
February 16, 1993.
TCA's new facilities (U.S. headquarters and manufacturing plant--25 acres,
130 employees) at 19002 50th Avenue East, Tacoma, are scheduled to be
completed by February 1994. They will be used to produce carbon fiber
composite materials consisting of PAN-based (polyacrylonitrile) carbon
fiber fabric impregnated with epoxy resin. The plant will supply Boeing
with carbon fiber composite materials for use in the manufacture of primary
structures for its next generation commercial airplane--the Boeing 777.
Some 90 percent of TCA's production would be sold to Boeing, and the
remainder would be exported.
Zone procedures would exempt TCA from Customs duty payments on foreign
components used in production for export. On domestic sales, the company
would be able to choose the duty rate that applies to the finished product
(4.9%) with regard to the following foreign ingredients: epoxy resin and
polyethersulfone (duty rate--6.1 percent), polyvinylformal (5.3%), and 1,1-
dimethyl urea (6.8%). The epoxy resin and additives together comprise 15
percent of the value of the finished product. Both the primary imported
component (carbon fiber fabric) and the final product (carbon fiber
composite) are dutiable at a 4.9% rate. The company may request a ruling
from Customs to classify the finished carbon fiber composite material as an
aircraft part (duty-free) so that the duty-free rate applies. The
application indicates that zone savings will help TCA in its export sales,
and to reduce costs for the material sold to Boeing.
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 26, 1993.
Rebuttal comments in response to material submitted during the foregoing
period may be submitted during the subsequent 15-day period (to May 10,
1993).
A copy of the application and accompanying exhibits will be available for
public inspection at each of the following locations:
Office of the District Director,
U.S. Department of Commerce, suite 290,
3131 Elliott Ave.,
Seattle, WA 98121.
Office of the Executive Secretary,
Foreign-Trade Zones Board,
U.S. Department of Commerce, room 3716,
14th & Pennsylvania Avenue, NW.,
Washington, DC 20230.
Dated: February 17, 1993.
John J. Da Ponte, Jr.,
Executive Secretary.
(FR Doc. 93-4174 Filed 2-23-93; 8:45 am)