plant to Denver, Colorado; this limitation was abolished in January 1967, when one of the domestic producers opened a sheet glass plant in California.

Since January 1967, the published prices quoted by

domestic producers have been the same throughout the United States; earlier, published prices applicable west of Denver were about 6 percent higher than those applicable in the East.

The U.S. sales agents of foreign manufacturers base their published prices on the same format of specifications as the domestic producers. Like those of domestic glass, the published prices of imported glass vary directly with the thickness and area of the light; they also vary with the quality of the glass and the type of packing. From the fall of 1960 to 1962, the agents employed a delivered price system; prices were quoted for sheet glass delivered to the customer's warehouse with duty, transportation, and all charges paid. In 1962, after the President proclaimed increased rates of duty subsequent to the first "escape-clause" investigation of sheet glass, the agents changed to a duty-paid ex-dock basis, which was comparable to that used by them before 1960. Four years later, in mid-1966, the agents for the principal foreign producers returned to a delivered price sysUnder the delivered price tem; they have used this system since. system, the delivered cost of imported sheet glass is the same to inland buyers as to seaboard buyers, while, under the ex-dock basis, the delivered cost was higher to inland buyers than to seaboard buyers.

Recent price history

During the 1960's the prices of sheet glass in the United States have been altered frequently by U.S. producers and agents of foreign producers. Through 1963 the prices of sheet glass in all important thickness (thin, window, and heavy) were usually affected about proportionately when prices were changed; some changes since then have affected only a segment of the sheet glass marketed. Price changes have been effected chiefly by two means--(1) by changing published prices, pricing practices, and terms of sale, and (2) by granting unpublished price concessions.

The extent of the

The published prices of sheet glass in the United States have moved upward in recent years, sporadically and irregularly. increase has differed materially between the various types and packs of sheet glass. At one extreme, the published prices of domestic window glass packed in standard pallets were about 10 percent higher on May 1, 1969, than on the corresponding date in 1964; at the other, the published prices of thin sheet glass packed in boxes were 30 percent higher. In the middle ground, the prices of thin sheet glass in standard pallets, window glass in boxes, and heavy sheet glass whether in boxes or standard pallets were each about 20 percent higher on May 1, 1969, than in 1964 (table 1). The domestic producers instituted increases in published prices of sheet glass, usually across-the-board, in each of the 4 years 1966-69; they effected small across-the-board decreases in published prices in 1965 and late in 1968. 1/ Individual price changes during

1 PPC Industries, Inc., granted announced discounts from its published prices of sheet glass on sales in California, Oregon, and Washington amounting to 15 percent in June-September 1968 and 5 percent since January 1969.

the 1964-69 period, however, depended upon the quantities purchased, the location of the customer, and the type of pack. Several changes in terms of sale and pricing practices, whose effect cannot be quantified, afforded reduced prices to customers under specified circumstances of sale; these changes included the offering of discounts for glass in extra large and/or modified containers, discounts for extra large volume orders, discounts for "tank-run" glass sold in a few dimensions economical to produce, and increases in freight absorption. These pricing practices, which were published with the price schedules, generally were followed by both domestic and foreign suppliers of glass to the U.S. market.

The published prices of sheet glass quoted by most of the domestic producers customarily are identical, while, in like fashion, the published prices quoted by agents of the major foreign suppliers are virtually identical. In recent years the prices of sheet glass published by the U.S. agents of the major foreign suppliers have consistently been below those of the domestic producers. The margins between such published prices have varied from time to time, as well as between types of sheet glass. The margins between the published prices of window In 1964, the glass, for example, have narrowed appreciably since 1964.

agents of most foreign producers offered 18-ounce single-strength window glass at published prices about 9 percent, and 19-ounce single

Price changes instituted by one manufacturer usually are followed shortly by the other producers. One domestic company regularly quotes published prices that are about 4 percent below those of the other do

strength window glass at prices about 6 percent, below the published prices of 19-ounce domestic window glass; such margins currently are 그/ about 5 percent and 2 percent, respectively. The narrowing margins have reflected a more rapid rise in the prices of domestic glass than in the prices of foreign glass. In contract to the price history respecting window glass, the margins between the prices of domestic and foreign thin and heavy sheet glass widened during the 1964-69 period (table 15). On May 1, 1969 the prices published by the agents of major foreign suppliers ranged, depending on the type of sheet glass, from about 2 percent to 7 percent below the corresponding prices published by domestic producers.

A comparison of the published prices of U.S. producers with those of agents of foreign producers presents only a partial picture of price relationships between the two. Some domestic and some imported sheet glass has been sold in recent years at prices below the published prices.

Beginning in 1967 the domestic producers of sheet glass began to sell below their published prices. According to the producers, when they have received adequate documentation of price offers by others lower than their published prices, they have at times met, or partially met, such prices. The producers state that they have made such price concessions to meet the lower prices of imported sheet glass in the U.S. markets. Since the institution of this practice, the domestic producers have expanded the breadth and depth of such 2/ price concessions, as follows (data in percent):

1/ The bulk of the single-strength window glass imported in recent years has consisted of 18-ounce glass; such glass accounted for about three-fourths of U.S. imports of single-strength window glass in 1968. 2/ Computed by the Tariff Commission from data supplied by the

The average discount in January-June 1969 was roughly equivalent to the price increase since 1964 on window glass, and about half the price increases on thin sheet glass and heavy sheet glass.

Agents

Statistical data on the extent and character of price discounting by agents of foreign firms--i.e., the share of the imports of sheet glass that has been sold below published prices and the degree to which the published prices have been discounted--are not available. Nevertheless, extensive evidence indicates that foreign glass has been offered and sold in the U.S. market at discounted prices. for some foreign factories (i.e., Taiwan) have offered regular discounts; agents for some factories have negotiated price concessions of various sizes and kinds with individual purchasers. practices of some agents have also apparently contributed to the price disparity between imported and domestic glass; some agents of foreign glass, for example, have sold directly to small secondary users

The selling