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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE Foreign-Trade Zones Board [Docket 22-96] Foreign-Trade Zone 43, Battle Creek, Michigan, Application for Subzone Status; Abbott Manufacturing, Inc./Ross Products, Plant (Infant Formula, Adult Nutritional Products), Sturgis, MIAn application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board (the Board) by the City of Battle Creek Michigan, grantee of FTZ 43, requesting special-purpose subzone status for export activity at the infant formula and adult nutritional products manufacturing plant of Abbott Manufacturing, Inc. (AMI) (a subsidiary of Abbott Laboratories, Inc.), located in Sturgis, Michigan. 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 March 12, 1996.
The plant (624,000 sq.ft. on 76 acres), known as the Ross Products facility, is located at 901 N. Centreville Road, Sturgis (St. Joseph County), Michigan, approximately 45 miles southwest of Battle Creek. The facility (500 employees) is used to produce milk and sugar-based infant formula and adult nutritional products for export and the domestic market; however, zone procedures would be used only for production for export. The production process involves blending foreign, ex-quota milk powder and foreign, ex-quota sugar with domestically-sourced oils, soy isolates, vitamins and minerals, and EZO ends. Other foreign-sourced items that may be used in the export- blending activity include: cocoa powder, pharmaceutical grade fat emulsions, vitamins and minerals, and caseinates (up to 14% of finished product value). All foreign-origin milk and sugar would be re-exported as ingredients in finished blended products.
Zone procedures would exempt AMI from quota requirements and Customs duty payments on the foreign milk and sugar products used in the export activity and from Customs duty payments on the other foreign ingredients involved. The application indicates that subzone status would help improve the plant's international competitiveness.
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 on the application is invited from interested parties. Submissions (original and three copies) shall be addressed to the Board's Executive Secretary at the address below. The closing period for their receipt is May 24, 1996. Rebuttal comments in response to material submitted during the foregoing period may be submitted during the subsequent 15-day period (to June 10, 1996).
A copy of the application and the accompanying exhibits will be available for public inspection at each of the following locations:
Office of the Port Director, U.S. Customs Service, 4950 West Dickman Road, Battle Creek, MI 49015 Office of the Executive Secretary, Foreign-Trade Zones Board, U.S. Department of Commerce, Room 3716, 14th Street & Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20230-0002.
Dated: March 14, 1996. John J. Da Ponte, Jr., Executive Secretary. [FR Doc. 96-7049 Filed 3-22-96; 8:45 am]