Request for Public Comments on Bilateral Textile Consultations with Indonesia on Certain Wool Textile Products

COMMITTEE FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF TEXTILE AGREEMENTS

Request for Public Comments on Bilateral Textile Consultations

with Indonesia on Certain Wool Textile Products

January 13, 1995.

AGENCY: Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements (CITA).

ACTION: Issuing a directive to the Commissioner of Customs establishing

a limit.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

EFFECTIVE DATE:January 26, 1995.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jennifer Tallarico, International

Trade Specialist, Office of Textiles and Apparel, U.S. Department of

Commerce, (202) 482-4212. For information on the quota status of this

limit, refer to the Quota Status Reports posted on the bulletin boards

of each Customs port or call (202) 927-6704. For information on

embargoes and quota re-openings, call (202) 482-3715. For information

on categories on which consultations have been requested, call (202)

482-3740.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Authority: Executive Order 11651 of March 3, 1972, as amended;

section 204 of the Agricultural Act of 1956, as amended (7 U.S.C.

1854).

On December 29, 1994, under the terms of the Bilateral Cotton,

Wool, Man-Made Fiber, and Silk Blend and Other Vegetable Fiber Textile

Agreement of May 8, 1992, as amended and extended, between the

Governments of the United States and Indonesia, the United States

Government requested consultations with the Government of Indonesia

with respect to wool textile products in Category 435.

The purpose of this notice is to advise the public that, pending

agreement on a mutually satisfactory solution concerning Category 435,

the Government of the United States will, pursuant to the bilateral

agreement, control imports during the ninety-day period which began on

December 29, 1994 and extends through March 28, 1995.

A summary market statement concerning Category 435 follows this

notice.

If no solution is agreed upon in consultations between the two

governments, CITA may later establish a specific limit for the entry

and withdrawal from warehouse for consumption of textile products in

Category 435, produced or manufactured in Indonesia.

Anyone wishing to comment or provide data or information regarding

the treatment of Category 435, under the agreement with Indonesia, or

to comment on domestic production or availability of products included

in Category 435, is invited to submit 10 copies of such comments or

information to Rita D. Hayes, Chairman, Committee for the

Implementation of Textile Agreements, U.S. Department of Commerce,

Washington, DC 20230; ATTN: Helen L. LeGrande. The comments received

will be considered in the context of the consultations with the

Government of Indonesia.

Because the exact timing of the consultations is not yet certain,

comments should be submitted promptly. Comments or information

submitted in response to this notice will be available for public

inspection in the Office of Textiles and Apparel, room H3100, U.S.

Department of Commerce, 14th and Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington,

DC.

Further comments may be invited regarding particular comments or

information received from the public which the Committee for the

Implementation of Textile Agreements considers appropriate for further

consideration.

The solicitation of comments regarding any aspect of the agreement

or the implementation thereof is not a waiver in any respect of the

exemption contained in 5 U.S.C. 553(a)(1) relating to matters which

constitute ``a foreign affairs function of the United States.''

The United States remains committed to finding a solution

concerning Category 435. Should such a solution be reached in

consultations with the Government of Indonesia, further notice will be

published in the Federal Register.

A description of the textile and apparel categories in terms of HTS

numbers is available in the CORRELATION: Textile and Apparel Categories

with the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (see Federal

Register notice 59 FR 65531, published on December 20, 1994).

Rita D. Hayes,

Chairman, Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements.

Market Statement--Indonesia

Category 435--Women's and Girls' Wool Coats

December 1994

Import Situation and Conclusion

U.S. imports of women's and girls' wool coats, Category 435, from

Indonesia reached 35,642 dozen for the year ending September 1994,

nearly four times the 9,374 dozen imported a year earlier. During the

first nine months of 1994, imports from Indonesia were 35,042 dozen,

over five times the 6,933 dozen imported during January-September 1993

and more than four and a half times the 7,533 dozen imported during

calendar year 1993. Indonesia became the eighth largest supplier of

women's and girls' wool coats, Category 435, to the U.S. market,

accounting for 3.5 percent of total Category 435 imports during

January-September 1994. Indonesia was ranked twenty-eighth among the

major suppliers in calendar year 1993, accounting for 0.7 percent of

total Category 435 imports.

The sharp and substantial increase in Category 435 imports from

Indonesia is causing a real risk of disruption in the U.S. market for

women's and girls' wool coats.

U.S. Production, Import Penetration and Market Share

U.S. production of women's and girls' wool coats, Category 435,

declined from 981,000 dozen in 1992 to 922,000 dozen in 1993, a decline

of 6 percent. U.S. production continued to decline in 1994, falling to

911,000 dozen produced in the year ending in June 1994, 1 percent below

the 924,000 dozen produced in the same period a year earlier. In

contrast, U.S. imports of Category 435 increased from 834,000 dozen in

1992 to 1,110,000 dozen in 1993, an increase of 33 percent. Category

435 imports continued to increase in 1994 reaching a record level

1,187,552 dozen during the year ending September 1994, 8 percent above

the year ending September 1993 level.

The ratio of imports to domestic production increased from 85

percent in 1992 to 120 percent in 1993, and reached 126 percent during

the year [[Page 5656]] ending June 1994. The domestic manufacturers'

share of the market for women's and girls' wool coats, Category 435,

declined from 54 percent in 1992 to 45 percent in 1993, a decline of 9

percentage points, and fell to 44 percent during the year ending June

1994.

Duty-Paid Value and U.S. Producers' Price

Approximately 83 percent of Category 435 imports from Indonesia

during the year ending September 1994 entered under HTSUSA

6202.11.0010--Women's wool overcoats, carcoats, capes and similar

items; and HTSUSA 6204.31.2010--Women's wool suit-type coats, other

than silk blend jackets of 30% or more silk. These coats entered the

U.S. at landed duty-paid values substantially below U.S. producers'

prices for comparable wool coats.

Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements

January 13, 1995.

Commissioner of Customs,

Department of the Treasury, Washington, DC 20229.

Dear Commissioner: Under the terms of section 204 of the

Agricultural Act of 1956, as amended (7 U.S.C. 1854), and the

Arrangement Regarding International Trade in Textiles done at Geneva

on December 20, 1973, as further extended on December 9, 1993;

pursuant to the Bilateral Cotton, Wool, Man-Made Fiber, and Silk

Blend and Other Vegetable Fiber Textile Agreement of May 8, 1992, as

amended and extended, between the Governments of the United States

and Indonesia; and in accordance with the provisions of Executive

Order 11651 of March 3, 1972, as amended, you are directed to

prohibit, effective on January 26, 1995, entry into the United

States for consumption and withdrawal from warehouse for consumption

of wool textile products in Category 435, produced or manufactured

in Indonesia and exported during the period beginning on December

29, 1994 and extending through March 28, 1995, in excess of 12,475

dozen.\1\

\1\The limit has not been adjusted to account for any imports

exported after December 28, 1994.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Textile products in Category 435 which have been exported to the

United States on and after July 1, 1994 shall remain subject to the

levels for Group II and the Group II subgroup established in the

directive dated November 3, 1994 for the period July 1, 1994 through

December 31, 1994. Also, Category 435 shall remain subject to

monitoring in Group II and the Group II subgroup for the January 1,

1995 through December 31, 1995 period (see directive dated December

13, 1994).

Textile products in Category 435 which have been exported to the

United States prior to December 29, 1994 shall not be subject to the

limit established in this directive.

In carrying out the above directions, the Commissioner of

Customs should construe entry into the United States for consumption

to include entry for consumption into the Commonwealth of Puerto

Rico.

The Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements has

determined that this action falls within the foreign affairs

exception of the rulemaking provisions of 5 U.S.C. 553(a)(1).

Sincerely,

Rita D. Hayes,

Chairman, Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements.

[FR Doc. 95-2292 Filed 1-26-95; 11:19 am]

BILLING CODE 3510-DR-F