Proclamation 4887—Import Fees on Certain Sugars, Sirups and Molasses

1. The Secretary of Agriculture has advised me that he has reason to believe that certain sugars, sirups and molasses derived from sugarcane or sugar beets, classified under items 155.20 and 155.30, of the Tariff Schedules of the United States (TSUS) (19 U.S.C. 1202), are being, or are practically certain to be, imported into the United States under such conditions and in such quantities as to render or tend to render ineffective, or to materially interfere with the price support operations being conducted by the Department of Agriculture for sugarcane and sugar beets.

2. I agree that there is reason for such belief by the Secretary of Agriculture, and, therefore, I am requesting the United States International Trade Commission to make an immediate investigation with respect to this matter pursuant to section 22 of the Agricultural Adjustment Act, as amended (7 U.S.C. 624), and to report its findings and recommendations to me as soon as possible.

3. The Secretary of Agriculture has also determined and reported to me with regard to such sugars, sirups and molasses that a condition exists which requires emergency treatment and that the import fees hereinafter proclaimed should be imposed without awaiting the report and recommendations of the United States International Trade Commission.

4. I find and declare that the imposition of import fees hereinafter proclaimed, without awaiting the recommendations of the United States International Trade Commission with respect to such action, is necessary in order that the entry, or withdrawal from warehouse, for consumption of certain sugars, sirups and molasses described below by value, use and physical description and classified under TSUS items 155.20 and 155.30 will not render or tend to render ineffective, or materially interfere with, the price support operations being conducted by the Department of Agriculture for sugarcane or sugar beets.

Now, Therefore, I, Ronald Reagan, President of the United States of America, by the authority vested in me by section 22 of the Agricultural Adjustment Act, as amended, and the Statutes of the United States including Section 301 of Title 3 of the United States Code, do hereby proclaim that Part 3 of the Appendix to the Tariff Schedules of the United States is amended as follows:

1. Headnote 4 is continued in effect and amended, effective 12:01 a.m. (Eastern Standard Time) December 24, 1981, by changing paragraph (c) to read as follows:

(c)(i) The quarterly adjusted fee provided for in items 956.05 and 957.15 shall be the amount of the fee for item 956.15 plus .15 times the amount by which the applicable market stabilization price exceeds the 20 day average of the daily spot (world) price quotations for raw sugar as calculated in paragraph (ii) hereof.

(ii) The quarterly adjusted fee provided for in item 956.15 shall be the amount by which the average of the daily spot (world) price quotations for raw sugar for the 20 consecutive market days immediately preceding the 20th day of the month preceding the calendar quarter during which the fee shall be applicable (as reported by the New York Coffee, Sugar and Cocoa Exchange or, if such quotations are not being reported, by the International Sugar Organization), expressed in United States cents per pound, Caribbean ports, in bulk, adjusted to a United States delivered basis by adding applicable duty and attributed costs, is less than the applicable market stabilization price: Provided, That whenever the average of such daily spot price quotations for 10 consecutive market days within any calendar quarter, adjusted to a United States delivered basis as provided herein, plus the fee then in effect (1) exceeds the market stabilization price by more than one cent, the fee then in effect shall be decreased by one cent, or (2) is less than the market stabilization price by more than one cent, the fee then in effect shall be increased by one cent: Provided further, That the fee may not be greater than 50 per centum of the average of such daily spot price quotations for raw sugar.

(iii) The market stabilization price for the first, second, and third calendar quarters of 1982 shall be 19.0800 cents per pound. The market stabilization price that shall be applicable to each subsequent fiscal year shall be determined and announced by the Secretary of Agriculture (hereafter the "Secretary") in accordance with this headnote no later than 30 days prior to the beginning of the fiscal year for which such market stabilization price shall be applicable. The market stabilization price shall he equal to the sum of: (1) the price support level for the applicable fiscal year, expressed in cents per pound of raw cane sugar; (2) adjusted average transportation costs; (3) interest costs, if applicable; (4) an amount adequate to compensate for the estimated value of duty reductions to be granted under the Generalized System of Preferences on imported raw cane sugar, as determined by the Secretary and (5) 0.2 cents. The adjusted average transportation costs shall be the weighted average cost of handling and transporting domestically produced raw cane sugar from Florida to Atlantic Coast ports north of Cape Hatteras, as determined by the Secretary. Interest costs shall be the amount of interest that would be required to be paid by a recipient of a price support loan for raw cane sugar upon repayment of the loan at full maturity. Interest costs shall only be applicable if a price support loan recipient is not required to pay interest upon forfeiture of the loan collateral.

(iv) Attributed costs for the first, second, and third calendar quarters of 1982 shall be 1.5032 cents per pound of imported raw cane sugar. The attributed costs that shall be applicable to each subsequent fiscal year shall be determined and announced by the Secretary in accordance with this headnote no later than 30 days prior to the beginning of the fiscal year for which such attributed costs shall be applicable. Attributed costs shall be equal to the sum of the costs, as estimated by the Secretary, of freight, insurance, stevedoring, financing, weighing, sampling, and International Sugar Agreement fees which are attributable to the importation of raw cane sugar from Caribbean ports.

(v) The Secretary shall determine the amount of the quarterly fees in accordance with this headnote and shall announce such fees not later than the 25th day of the month preceding the calendar quarter during which the fees shall be applicable. The Secretary shall certify the amount of such fees to the Secretary of the Treasury and file notice thereof with the Federal Register prior to the beginning of the calendar quarter during which the fees shall be applicable. The Secretary shall determine and announce any adjustment in the fees made within a calendar quarter in accordance with the first proviso of paragraph (ii) hereof, shall certify such adjusted fees to the Secretary of the Treasury, and shall file notice thereof with the Federal Register within 3 market days of the fulfillment of that proviso.

(vi) If an adjustment is made in the fee in accordance with the first proviso of paragraph (ii) hereof, any subsequent adjustment made within that quarter shall only be made on the basis of the average adjusted spot price for any 10 consecutive market day period following the effective date of the immediately preceding fee adjustment. No adjustment shall be made in any fee in accordance with the first proviso of paragraph (ii) hereof during the last fifteen market days of a calendar quarter.

(vii) Any adjustment made in a fee during a quarter in accordance with the first proviso of paragraph (ii) hereof shall be effective only with respect to sugar entered or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption after 12:01 a.m. (local time at point of entry) on the day following the filing of notice thereof with the Federal Register: Provided, That such adjusted fee shall not apply to sugar exported (as defined in section 152.1 of the Customs Regulations) on a through bill of lading to the United States from the country of origin before such time.

2. Items 956.05, 956.15 and 957.15 are continued in effect and amended to read as follows:

Rates of duty

Item Articles (Section 22 Fees)

Sugars, sirups and molasses derived from sugarcane or sugar beets, except those entered pursuant to a license issued by the Secretary of Agriculture in accordance with headnote 4(a): . Principally of crystalline structure or in dry amorphous form, provided for in item 155.20 part 10A, schedule 1: .

956.05 Not to be further 3.1104 per lb.

refined or adjusted quarterly improved in quality. beginning January

1, 1982, in accordance with headnote 4(c) but not in excess of 50% ad val.

956.15 To be further refined 2.1418 per lb., or improved in adjusted quarterly quality. beginning January 1, 1982 in

accordance with headnote 4(c), but not in excess of 50% ad val.

957.15 Not principally of 3.1104 per lb. of total

crystalline structure sugars, adjusted and not in dry quarterly beginning amorphous form, January 1, 1982, in containing soluble accordance with nonsugar solids headnote 4(c), but (excluding any not in excess of foreign substance 50% ad val.

that may have been added or developed in the product) equal to 6% or less by weight of the total soluble solids, provided for in item 155.30, part 10A, schedule 1.

3. The provisions of this proclamation shall terminate upon the filing of a notice in the Federal Register by the Secretary of Agriculture that the Department of Agriculture is no longer conducting a price support program for sugar beets and sugarcane.

4. The provisions of paragraph (c)(v) of Headnote 4 of Part 3 of the Appendix to the TSUS, as added herein, requiring the determination and announcement by the Secretary of Agriculture not later than the 25th day of the month preceding the calendar quarter during which the fees shall be applicable, shall not apply to the fees to become effective January 1, 1982.

5. The provisions of Proclamation 4631 of December 28, 1978 are hereby terminated, except with respect to those articles which are exempted from the provisions of this proclamation under paragraph 6 below.

6. This proclamation shall be effective as of 12:01 a.m. (Eastern Standard Time) on the day following its signing. However, the provisions of this proclamation shall not apply to articles entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption prior to January 1, 1982, which are imported to fulfill forward contracts that were entered into prior to June 1, 1981 between (a) an exporter and an end user of such articles; or (b) an importer, broker, or operator and an end user of such articles.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-third day of December, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty-one, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and sixth.

RONALD REAGAN