VANILLA BEANS : : : U.S. concessions granted effective : effective : : : 1972 : The tabulation above shows the column 1 rate January 1, 1968, and modifications therein as a result of a concession in effect prior to granted by the United States in the 1964-67 trade conference under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. Only the second (that in effect during 1969) and final stages of the annual rate modifications are shown above (see the TSUSA-1969 for all the staged rates). During the period from August 31, 1963, when the TSUS became effective, to December 31, 1967, the prior rate shown above did not change. The ad valorem equivalent of the specific rate of duty (6¢ per lb.) in effect on December 31, 1968, based on dutiable imports in 1968, ranged from 0.2 percent to 6.0 percent and averaged 1.3 percent. U.S. consumption In U.S. consumption of vanilla beans has been equal to imports. the 6-year period 1963-1968, these imports averaged 1.7 million pounds annually, with an average value of $7.9 million (see table.) On December 31, 1965, the Food and Drug Administration's Standards of Identity for Frozen Desserts (21 CFR 20.1) required vanilla flavored ice cream to be labeled "artificial vanilla", if less than 50 percent of the vanilla flavoring used was natural vanilla. Anticipating this, importers built up their inventory of vanilla beans with a resulting increase in imports to a high of 2.2 million pounds. Imports declined slightly in 1966 and 1967, then rose in 1968 to the 1965 level. In recent years, the principal supplier has been the Malagasy Republic. U.S. exports of vanilla beans, if any, are negligible. December 1969 Vanilla beans: U.S. imports for consumption, by principal sources, 1963-68 Malagasy Republic-----: 5,640 : 6,417: 7,663: 7,166: 4,616 : 8,886 : 378 : 345: 350 : 356 55 : 72 551 : 124 : 380 : 338 426: 460: : 6,628 : 7,494: 9,474: 8,196: 5,638 : 9,835 Malagasy Republic-----: $6.55 : $4.70: $4.40: $4.54: $4.59: $4.73 2.75 : 2.89 : 2.80 : 2.71 : 2.44 Source: Compiled from official statistics of the U.S. Department of Commerce. Note.--Vanilla beans are a tropical agricultural product and are not commercially important as exports from the United States or U.S. Territories. December 1969 Note.--For the statutory description, see the Tariff Schedules of the United States Annotated (TSUSA-1969). U.S. trade position U.S. consumption of inedible wafers is supplied almost entirely by imports, which averaged about $134,000 annually during 1963-68. U.S. production and exports are believed to be negligible. Comment Inedible wafers consist of a mixture of flour and water, lightly baked, often in the form of large sheets. The language "not edible" in the tariff provision is not construed to mean, for instance, that the wafers are not fit for human consumption. The term rather is used in the more general sense that they are not usually eaten as food by humans in the form as made. These wafers are unleavened, brittle, tasteless sheets about the thickness of heavy paper, and are often called wafer paper. They are used principally by bakers as pan linings which become part of the cakes baked on them, as nonadhesive surfaces for candies, as fish food (principally for goldfish), as capsules or cachets to make the administration of certain medicines more palatable, and as communion wafers. The column 1 rate of duty applicable to imports (see general headnote 3 in the TSUSA-1969) is as follows: TSUS item Commodity 193.20 Wafers, not edible. Rate of duty Free This rate is that provided for in the original Tariff Act of 1930. Inedible wafers have been bound duty-free under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade since January 1, 1948. Edible wafers are included in TSUS item 182.20. They are designed for human consumption in their original form and are not for further manufacture. Domestic consumption of inedible wafers is believed to be supplied largely by imports. During 1963-68 there has been an overall December 1969 increase in U.S. imports of such wafers (see table); the annual average for this period was about 72,000 pounds, valued at $134,000. In recent years, the Netherlands, Italy, the United Kingdom, West Germany, and Belgium have been the principal sources of these imports. Wafers, not edible: U.S. imports for consumption, : : : : 1/ Includes an estimated 4,000 pounds from Poland. Invoice analysis indicates that the reported entry of 429,897 pounds from Poland was actually the number of wafers entered. Source: Compiled from official statistics of the U.S. Department of Commerce. December 1969 |