[Federal Register: November 4, 2008 (Volume 73, Number 214)]
[Notices]
[Page 65582-65583]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr04no08-25]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Foreign-Trade Zones Board
[Docket 61-2008]
Foreign-Trade Zone 119 - Minneapolis, MN, Application for
Expansion/Reorganization and Expansion of Manufacturing Authority,
Subzone 119B - Uponor, Inc., (Polyethylene Tubing)
An application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board
(the Board) by the Greater Metropolitan Area Foreign Trade Zone
Commission (Minneapolis, Minnesota), grantee of FTZ 119, on behalf of
Uponor, Inc. (formerly, the Wirsbo Company), operator of Subzone 119B
at the Uponor polyethylene tubing manufacturing and distribution
facilities in Apple Valley and Burnsville, Minnesota, requesting
authority to expand and reorganize the subzone and to expand the scope
of FTZ manufacturing authority to include new manufacturing capacity.
The application was submitted pursuant to the provisions of the
Foreign-Trade Zones Act, as amended (19 U.S.C. 81a-81u), and section
400.28(a)(2) of the Board's regulations (15 CFR Part 400). It was
formally filed on October 28, 2008.
Subzone 119B was approved by the Board in 1993 with authority
granted for the manufacture of polyethylene tubing at Uponor's
manufacturing plant (Site 1)(135,000 sq.ft./6 acres) in Apple Valley,
Minnesota (Board Order 640, 58 FR 30143, 5-26-93). Activity at the
facility (427 employees) includes product development, manufacturing,
testing, warehousing, and distribution of cross-linked polyethylene
(PEX) tubing for residential and commercial indoor/outdoor hydronic
radiant heating systems. In 2005, the Board authorized an expansion of
the subzone to include an additional site in Burnsville, Minnesota
(Site 2)(Board Order 1398, 70 FR 36116, 6-22-2005).
The applicant is now requesting authority to reorganize and expand
the subzone to include a new warehouse facility (285,000 sq.ft./18.2
acres), currently under construction, located at 21900 Dodd Boulevard
in Lakeville (Dakota County), Minnesota, that will replace existing
Site 2 in Burnsville. Under the current expansion plan, the boundaries
of Site 1 (manufacturing plant) will be expanded to include 13
additional acres and 196,000 square feet of production area that would
double the facility's capacity. The applicant
[[Page 65583]]
also requests that the scope of FTZ manufacturing authority be expanded
to include the additional production capacity (new total would be 610
million feet per year). Uponor uses foreign-origin polyethylene (HDPE)
resin (HTSUS 3901.10, 6.5[percnt]) to manufacture the PEX tubing, which
represents about 21 percent of the finished tubing's value. The company
distributes certain foreign parts and materials used to construct the
radiant heating systems, including thermostats, fittings, aluminum
pipe, polyethylene pipe, polymers and resins, plastic foil, insulation,
packaging materials, polyester tape, fasteners, mounting tracks,
valves, transformers, fuses, relays, junction boxes, flow meters, and
regulators.
Expanded FTZ procedures could continue to exempt Uponor from
customs duty payments on the foreign-origin resin used in production
for export (about 1[percnt] of shipments). On its domestic shipments,
the company would be able to elect the duty rate that applies to
finished PEX tubing (3.1[percnt]) for the foreign resin used in the
manufacturing process. Customs duties also could possibly be deferred
or reduced on foreign status production equipment.
In accordance with the Board's regulations, Pierre Duy of the FTZ
Staff is designated examiner to investigate the application and report
to the Board.
Public comment is invited from interested parties. Submissions
(original and 3 copies) shall be addressed to the Board's Executive
Secretary at the following address: Office of the Executive Secretary,
Room 2111, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue, NW,
Washington, DC 20230-0002. The closing period for receipt of comments
is January 5, 2009. Rebuttal comments in response to material submitted
during the foregoing period may be submitted during the subsequent 15-
day period to January 20, 2009.
A copy of the application will be available for public inspection
at each of the following locations: U.S. Department of Commerce Export
Assistance Center, Suite 210-C, 100 North 6th Street, Minneapolis, MN
55403; and, at the Office of the Foreign-Trade Zones Board's Executive
Secretary at the address listed above. For further information, contact
Pierre Duy, examiner, at: Pierre_Duy@ita.doc.gov, or (202) 482-1378.
Dated: October 28, 2008.
Andrew McGilvray,
Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. E8-26284 Filed 11-3-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-S