SUMMARIES OF TARIFF INFORMATION LAC: CRUDE, SEED, BUTTON, OR STICK (PAR. 1707) Tariff Status Par. 1707. Lac: Crude, seed, button, or stick, which was free of duty under the Tariff Act of 1922, is free of duty also under the Tariff Act of 1930. Its duty-free status was bound in the Geneva agreement, effective July 9, 1948 Trade Statistics United States Table 1.- Lac: Crude, seed, button, or stick: 1.000 dollars 1/Almost all from India, which includes Burma in 1937 and Pakistan in 1937-47. There were no imports from Pakistan in 1948, the first year for which statistics for that country were reported. 2/ Not available. 3/ Preliminary. Source: Official statistics of the U. S. Department of Commerce. Note.- The United States does not produce the forms of lac covered by this summary. UNITED STATES TARIFF COMMISSION LAC: CRUDE, SEED, BUTTON, OR STICK Comment This summary covers all forms of lac except shellac which is a highly purified form of lac (for a discussion of shellac, also duty-free, see separate summaries on unbleached shellac, and bleached shellac, par. 1707). Lac is a resinous substance exuded by the scale insect Laccifer lacca on the twigs of certain trees. The crudest form of lac is stick lac which consists of the resin-incrusted twigs as taken from the host tree. Seed lac is a semirefined product consisting of the granular fragments remaining after the stick lac has been ground, winnowed, and washed to remove coloring and other extraneous matter. Button lac, the most important form of refined lac next to shellac, is a heat-purified lac similar to shellac but marketed in the form of buttons which are about 3 inches in diameter and one-fourth inch thick. Small quantities of .refined lac are also marketed in forms other than shellac and button lac. Virtually all stick lac is converted into seed lac by native processes before the lac enters commerce. Most of the seed lac is converted into shellac and similar forms of purified lac, including large quantities used in the manufacture of bleached lac.1/ Unbleached lac is used chiefly in the manufacture of phonograph records, sealing wax, and lithographic inks, as a molding material and insulator by the electrical industry, and in the manufacture of spirit varnishes; bleached lac is used almost entirely in the manufacture of spirit varnishes. There is no United States production of lac in any of the forms covered by this summary and domestic requirements are supplied entirely by imports, almost all from India. In 1937-39 annual imports ranged from 15 million pounds, valued at about 1 million dollars, to 23 million pounds, valued at 1.4 million dollars (see table 1). During the war annual imports of lac fluctuated widely, ranging from 1.2 million pounds, valued at $290,000, to 31 million pounds, valued at 3.8 million dollars. Since the end of the war, imports have been slightly higher in volume, and considerably higher in value, than in the immediate prewar period, and have averaged 22 million pounds, valued at 7.9 million dollars, annually (see table 1). The average annual unit foreign value of imports ranged from 6 cents to 8.4 cents per pound in 1937-39; it increased greatly in subsequent years and was 89 cents per pound in 1944. The average was 25 cents per pound in 1945, but subsequently increased to 40 cents per pound in 1948. India is the center of production and international trade in lac. Nearly all crude lac is produced in India, chiefly in Bihar and Orissa and in the Central Provinces; Calcutta is the principal trading center and port of export. The relatively small quantities of lac produced in other countries (principally Burma, Siam, and Indo-China) are usually shipped to India for refining. About twothirds of the lac produced enters international trade as shellac, and most of the remainder is used as seed lac; only negligible quantities of lac are consumed in the producing countries. In most years there are no United States exports of lac other than shellac (see table 1). For discussion of the processing of lac see separate summaries on unbleached shellac, and bleached shellac, par. 1707. SUMMARIES OF TARIFF INFORMATION SHELLAC, BLEACHED Tariff Status Par. 1707. Bleached shellac, which was free of duty under the Tariff Act of 1922, is free of duty also under the Tariff Act of 1930. Its duty-free status was bound in the Geneva agreement, effective July 9, 1948. There were no imports in 1941-46. 2/ Classified as shellac (bleached and unbleached), but believed to consist entirely of bleached shellac. 3/ Includes Austria, 1938-43. Includes Burma in 1937 and Pakistan in 1937-48. There were no imports from Pakistan in 1948, the first year for which separate statistics for that country were reported. 5/ Not available. Preliminary. Source: Official statistics of the U. S. Department of Commerce. UNITED STATES TARIFF COMMISSION SHELLAC, BLEACHED Comment This summary covers bleached shellac which, as the term is used commercially, includes all forms of lac rendered as colorless (or "white") as possible by chemical action. (See also separate summaries on Lac: crude, seed, button, or stick, and on unbleached shellac, both duty-free under par. 1707.) The bleaching process consists, in general, of treating an alkaline solution of shellac or seed lac with a bleaching agent such as sodium hypochlorite, and precipitating and drying the decolorized product. Bleached shellac is an ingredient in the manufacture of light-colored spirit varnishes which are used for many purposes and particularly in the finishing of furniture. The dewaxed grade, known as refined bleached shellac, is used in cellulose nitrate lacquers. Although dependent on foreign sources of supply for the raw materials, the United States manufactures most of its requirements of bleached shellac. Domestic output amounted to 14.6 million pounds, valued at 2.6 million dollars, in 1937 and to 16.3 million pounds, valued at 3.2 million dollars, in 1939 (see table 1). Recent statistics on production are not available, but since the end of the war the volume is probably somewhat greater than in prewar years. In terms of value, however, production is probably substantially greater, because of the large increase since the beginning of the war in the price of both seed lac and shellac used for bleaching. United States imports of bleached shellac have been small relative to domestic production (see table 1). In 1937-39 they ranged from 136,000 pounds, valued at $22,000 to 434,000 pounds, valued at $70,000. None was imported from 1941 to 1946. Imports in 1947 were negligible and in 1948 they amounted to 163,000 pounds, valued at $83,000. Germany was the principal prewar source of imports of bleached shellac; in 1948 India was the principal supplier and Siam, Sweden, and Germany were secondary sources. Statistics on United States exports of bleached shellac are not available prior to 1941. Beginning in 1943, bleached and unbleached shellac are combined in official statistics; it is probable, however, that these exports consist entirely of bleached shellac. Although small compared with domestic production, United States exports are considerably larger than imports (see table 1). They amounted to 1.6 million pounds, valued at $344,000, in 1941. During the war, they ranged from 256,000 pounds, valued at $100,000, in 1943 to 4 million pounds, valued at nearly 2 million dollars, in 1944. In the 1946-48 period annual exports averaged about 1.4 million pounds, valued at 0.9 million dollars. Canada has been the principal market for United States exports of bleached shellac (see table 2) with most of the remainder going to other Western Hemisphere nations. |