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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE [Docket 36-96] Foreign-Trade Zone 7--Mayaguez, PR; Application for Subzone Status, Mani Can Corporation Facilities, (Steel Cans), Mayaguez, Puerto RicoAn application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board (the Board) by the Puerto Rico Industrial Development Company, grantee of FTZ 7, requesting special-purpose subzone status for the easy-open steel can processing facilities of Mani Can Corporation (MCC) (a wholly-owned affiliate of Star-Kist Foods, Inc., in turn wholly owned by the H. J. Heinz Company), located in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico. 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 May 7, 1996.
The proposed subzone would consist of MCC's two steel can processing facilities located within the Industrial Port Urbanization area of the City of Mayaguez: Site 1 (120,000 sq.ft. on 10 acres)-- located on Lots 9, 10, 11, and 12 at Street No. 3 and the Mani- Sabanetas Highway; and, Site 2 (104,000 sq.ft.) within a building located at Gonzalez Clemente Avenue and Street No. 3, some 475 meters east of Site 1. The facilities (150 employees) are used to fabricate cans and related can parts (sheets, easy-open ends, sanitary ends) used for food products (e.g., tuna fish, pet food). The production process involves cutting steel coils, pressing, enamel coating, and packaging. Some 70 percent of the steel coils would be purchased from abroad, including tin free steel (HTSUS #7210.50; duty rate-4.6%) and electro- tin plated steel (HTSUS #7210.11; 2.8%). The finished cans and parts are mostly sold to Heinz-affiliated canning plants in Puerto Rico, California, Kansas, and Pennsylvania.
Zone procedures would exempt MCC from Customs duty payments on the foreign steel used in the export production. On its domestic sales, the company would be able to choose the duty rates that apply to the finished cans (duty free) and can ends (4.7%) for the foreign steel inputs noted above. Zone procedures would also exempt certain foreign steel that becomes scrap during the production process (about 10%) from Customs duties. The application indicates that subzone status would help improve the international competitiveness of the MCC plant as well as other Heinz-affiliated domestic canning facilities. .
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 July 15, 1996. Rebuttal comments in response to material submitted during the foregoing period may be submitted during the subsequent 15-day period (to July 29, 1996).
A copy of the application and the accompanying exhibits will be available for public inspection at each of the following locations:
U.S. Department of Commerce, District Office, Federal Building, Room G- 55, Chardon Avenue, Hato Rey, PR 00918 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: May 7, 1996. Dennis Puccinelli, Acting Executive Secretary. [FR Doc. 96-11938 Filed 5-13-96; 8:45 am]