U.S. Imports Of Coarse Wool To Be Duty Free

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29179, 13 April 1960, Page 16

U.S. Imports Of Coarse Wool To Be Duty Free

WASHINGTON, April 11. A bill to make certain grades of wool imports duty free Was passed in the House of Representatives today.

The bill was passed by voice vote and sent to the Senate. The grades of wool affected are supplied chiefly by New Zealand and are coarse types used in the manufacture of rugs.

They are now exempted from tariff duties, but that exemption will expire on June 30, 1960, unless extended by Congress. The bill also exempts from United States tariffs papermakers’ felts imported from abroad. The bill was backed by American carpet manufacturers and other domestic users of coarse felts as well as the Agriculture Department The United States produces very little wools fit for manufacture into carpets and rugs—only about 2m lb annually.

In 1958, imports of wools for carpet manufacture amounted to 128 m lb. Wools for papermakers’ felts were also exempted from the duty because those imports competed against the wools needed by the carpet and rug manufacturers. The bill allows the Secretary of Agriculture to use the standards for grading coarse wools which have been in effect since 1926. But it also authorises him to use newer grading processes, such as grading by electronics, after full agreement has been reached with trade interests. £l4m Trade ForN.Z. The United States exemption of carpet wools from duty was first granted in mid-1958. New Zealand exports to the United States rose from 138,694 bales in the year ended June, 1958, to 264,778 bales the following year. The 1958-59 New Zealand exports to the United States—mainly of wool in the grease—amounted to some 91m lb on a greasy basis. Representing 17 per cent, of New Zealand’s wool exports to all destinations in that year, the exports to the United States realised about £l4m. Further purchases of New Zealand wool were probably made from the 526,592 bales shipped from New Zealand to the United Kingdom in that year. Since June, 1959, exports to the United States from New Zealand have been running at about the same level; in the gix months ended December, 1959, exports to this market totalled 87,575 bales, compared with 89.443 bales in the same six months of 1958.

Trade sources in Christchurch last night Said the extension of the concession on carpet wools had been generally expected. There was little of this type of wool grown in the United States in relation to the demand for it there, and protection of the American producer was only a minor issue in this case, one exporter said. The effect of the bill would be to make permanent a concession formerly granted temporarily, and consequently liable to be withdrawn. “The bill will remove much uncertainly in the trade, and enable growers and exporters to plan with confidence,” he said. Paper Felts

The extension of the concession to papermakers’ felts came as a surprise to the bead of the wool department of a stock and station agency firm. “This could result in a new emphasis oh wool, rather than meat, on ipatjy farm properties,” he said. In the present state of the lamb market in the United Kingdom, any development tending to reduce the volume of meat sent there was to be welcomed, he said.