CITRUS FRUIT JUICES, NOT MIXED

Table 14.--Grapefruit juice, concentrated, frozen:

U.S. exports of

domestic merchandise, by principal markets, calendar years 1964-68

Source: Compiled from official statistics of the U.S. Department

of Commerce.

February 1970

U.S. exports of

Table 15.--Grapefruit juice, hot pack, concentrated: domestic merchandise, by principal markets, calendar years 1964-68

Commodity

Grape juice-

TSUS

item

165.40

Note.--For the statutory description, see the Tariff Schedules of the United States Annotated (TSUSA-1970).

U.S. trade position

Practically all grape juice consumed in the United States is produced domestically. Imports and exports are small.

Description and uses

This summary relates to grape juice, unsweetened, sweetened, single strength, or concentrated, which is not mixed with other juices and does not contain over 1 percent of ethyl alcohol by volume. If concentrated, it may be in liquid, powdered, or solid form. If grape juice is mixed with other juices, the mixture is provided for under item 165.65. When containing over 1 percent of ethyl alcohol by volume, grape juice is included with other such fruit juices under item 165.70.

Grape juice marketed as a beverage by U.S. producers is derived almost entirely from Concord grapes and is bottled or canned in pasteurized, single-strength form, or is packed frozen as a concentrate. In making this grape juice, grapes are heated, crushed, and pressed and the expressed juice is thereafter clarified. pressed juice made from grapes such as Catawba is bottled in the United States in minor amounts, being marketed as a nonalcoholic "substitute" for wine.

The imported types of beverage grape juice are extracted from a number of different varieties of vinifera-type grapes, all of which are used principally in making wine. They differ substantially in taste from the juice of labrusca-type grapes like Concord and they retail in a price range well above that for Concord grape juice; the prices are comparable with those for the more expensive domestic table wines and the types of domestic grape juice marketed as nonalcoholic wine.

Grape juice not marketed as a beverage in itself but used in the production of wine, brandy, fruit spirits, and jelly, is usually converted into these end products in the same plant where the juice is produced. Some concentrated grape juice used for these purposes, however, does enter commercial trade channels.

February 1970

U.S. tariff treatment

The column 1 rates of duty applicable to imports (see general headnote 3 in the TSUSA-1970) are as follows:

The tabulation above shows the column 1 rate of duty in effect under the TSUS prior to January 1, 1968, and modifications therein as a result of concessions granted in the sixth round of trade negotiations under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.

Only the

third and final stages of the annual rate modifications are shown above (see the TSUSA-1970 for the other stages).

The per-gallon duty rates shown above apply to juice in natural unconcentrated form. If the juice is concentrated, the duty is calculated on the number of gallons of reconstituted single-strength juice which can be made from a gallon of the concentrate (see headnotes 3 and 4 to part 12A, schedule 1 of the Tariff Schedules of the United States concerning "reconstituted" juice, which are reproduced in appendix A to this volume). A concentrated juice may be in liquid, powdered, or solid form. The average Brix values of unconcentrated fruit juices in the trade and commerce of the United States are set forth for tariff purposes in section 13.19, Customs Regulations (19 CFR 13.19). For juice of Vitis Vinifera grapes the average Brix value was determined to be 18.0 degrees, and for juice of slipskin grapes, 16.0 degrees. The corrections for added sweetener, acidity, and specific gravity provided for under headnotes 3 and 4 are made by the Bureau of Customs according to established procedure.

Prior to the effectuation of the TSUS, on August 31, 1963, the method of calculating duty on noncitrus Juices was based on actual gallons entered regardless of the actual degree of concentration (averaging about 4 to 1). With the adoption of the TSUS, duty was calculated on a single-strength or reconstituted basis, resulting in a change in duty from 36 cents per gallon to 9 cents per gallon. addition, the $2.00 per proof gallon additional rate of duty in effect on the alcohol capable of being produced from imported grape juice, if over 1 percent by volume, was eliminated. In 1965, by virtue of the

In

February 1970

passage of the Tariff Schedules Technical Ameriments Act (P.L. 89-241, effective December 7, 1965), the alcoholic content element of the former duty was restored by adding to the 9-cent-per-gallon rate an amount (41 cents) equivalent to the former proof-gallon rate on the alcohol that could be produced from a gallon of average singlestrength grape juice. Thus, treatment substantially equivalent to that accorded to grape juice under paragraph 806 of the previous tariff schedules, was reestablished.

The specific rate of duty in effect on December 31, 1968 (45 cents per gallon) was equivalent to 71.4 percent ad valorem, based on dutiable imports during 1968.

U.S. consumption

Production of beverage grape juice reported in the Census of Manufactures for 1958 and 1963, plus imports, but without adjustment for exports or changes in stocks, indicated an increase in consumption of about 7 percent between the two years, compared with an increase of 8 percent in population. Estimated annual production in 1964-68 ranged between 40 million and 53 million gallons. The low figure of 40 million was the result of the small Concord grape crop in 1968. Consumption fluctuated narrowly at about the production range.

U.S. consumption of grape juice as a beverage is confined almost entirely to juice of the Concord grape, predominant in the grape production of New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Oregon, and Washington. Grape juice produced in California from European vinifera-type grapes, and imported grape juice of the same type, is consumed as a beverage in only negligible quantities.

The volume of juice used in the production of grape wine, brandy, spirits, grape jelly, and vinegar ranged upwards of 250 million gallons annually in the period 1964-68, greatly outweighing direct consumption of grape juice as a beverage.

U.S. producers and production

Grape juice in concentrated or single strength form is marketed by about 40 processors in the United States. About 15 produce Concord grape juice for sale as a beverage; less than 5 market other types of beverage grape juice; and the remaining 20 produce concentrate for use by wineries and distilleries. Beverage grape juice production occurs predominantly in New York and Pennsylvania, with lesser amounts in Michigan, Ohio, Arkansas, Washington, Oregon, and California. Concentrate for use by wineries and distilleries is produced almost entirely in California.

February 1970