SUMMARIES OF TARIFF INFORMATION KYANITE, SILLIMANITE, ANDALUSITE, AND DUMORTIERITE, CRUDE (PAR. 1719) of the imports from Kenya is equal to, or may even exceed, that of the Indian material. One company controls virtually all of the output of kyanite in Kenya and this company further increased its production facilities in 1948. United States exports.-Statistics on United States exports of the crude minerals covered by this summary are not separately reported, being combined with exports of the ground and/or calcined minerals. Exports of the crude minerals, however, are known to be very small, if any. Virtually all of the relatively small exports consists of the processed minerals, largely kyanite, inasmuch as domestic shipments in that form are far more practicable than are shipments in crude form. UNITED STATES TARIFF COMMISSION NEPHELINE SYENITE, CRUDE Tariff Status Par. 1719. Nepheline syenite, crude, or not advanced in value or condition, which was classified free of duty under the Tariff Act of 1922, is classified free of duty also under the Tariff Act of 1930. Its duty-free status was bound in the trade agreement with Canada, effective January 1939, 1/ and in the Geneva agreement. 2/ 1 Binding was subject to following reservation: **** if in any calendar year after 1938 the aggregate quantity of nepheline syenite in any form, whether dutiable or free, entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption exceeds 50,000 tons, the Government of the United States of America and the Government of Canada shall promptly enter into consultation, with a view to reaching an agreement as to whatever measures may be deemed appropriate, and if, within 60 days after the two Governments enter into consultation, a mutually satisfactory settlement has not been effected, the Government of the United States of America shall have the right to increase the duty on any nepheline syenite which is subject to duty and to impose a customs duty on any nepheline syenite which is not subject to duty entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption in any calendar year in excess of an aggregate quantity of 50,000 tons of nepheline syenite in any form." This reservation was never acted upon since total imports never amounted to 50,000 tons in any year while the agreement was in effect. 2/ The reservation cited in footnote 1/ was not included in the Geneva agreement. Trade Statistics Table 1.- Nepheline syenite, crude: United States imports for consumption, in specified years, 1937 to 1948 2/ Not separately classified in import statistics before 1939; quantity of imports estimated from Canadian export statistics. 2/ Not available. Source: noted. 4 Preliminary. Official statistics of the U. S. Department of Commerce, except as SUMMARIES OF TARIFF INFORMATION NEPHELINE SYENITE, CRUDE Comment This summary covers crude or unmanufactured nepheline syenite, which is a quartz-free igneous rock somewhat resembling granite in texture, hardness and general appearance. It is a silicate of potash, soda and alumina similar in composition to feldspar. 1/ Like feldspar, it is used as a flux in the manufacture of glass and pottery. For the manufacture of certain types of these products, however, the use of nepheline syenite has certain advantages over feldspar. Not all of the nepheline syenite which is imported into the United States enters in crude form, and quantities entering in ground form have been increasing. When imported in ground form, however, nepheline syenite enters the United States free of duty as manufactured sand under paragraph 1775. The ground material is not included in the present discussion but it is covered in a separate summary under the aforementioned paragraph. Nepheline syenite has been an article of commerce only since 1936. Although several deposits are known in the United States, they contain impurities which are difficult to remove and up to the present none suitable for ceramic use has been developed. However, material suitable for ceramic use may be obtained from domestic deposits in the future, either as a result of new discoveries or the development of adequate and economical methods of beneficiation. Efforts to develop domestic sources of supply have been made in New Jersey and Arkansas, but material from the deposits in those States does not appear to be suitable for ceramic use. Although nepheline syenite is produced in several European and Asiatic countries, all imports into the United States have come from extensive deposits in Ontario, Canada. Before 1939 imports of crude nepheline syenite were not separately reported, but during 1937 and 1938 Canadian statistics showed exports to the United States of about 10,000 tons annually. In 1939, when a separate import classification was established for this material, imports amounted to 29,231 short tons, valued at $95,453. They increased steadily until 1947 when they amounted to 54,382 tons, valued at $194,283. In 1948 the volume of imports declined slightly to 53,580 tons, but the value increased to $214,747. Imports for the first 6 months of 1949 amounted to 23,526 tons, valued at $94,479. Imported nepheline syenite competes with feldspar that is available from domestic producers. As was noted above, nepheline syenite replaces feldspar in certain types of manufacture because of its desired qualities, and such competition is at least partly on a nonprice basis. For other uses, however, nepheline syenite competes with feldspar on a price basis. The average foreign unit value of crude nepheline syenite imported into the United States was $4.01 a short ton in 1948, as compared with an average unit sales value per short ton for crude feldspar of $4.94 at Spruce Pine, North Carolina, and $6.53 at Keene, New Hampshire, the chief centers of feldspar production. These values, however, do not afford an accurate comparison of the prices paid by industrial purchasers for the products after they are milled. Crude nepheline syenite, for example, is shipped from Lakefield, Ontario, Canada to a grinding mill at Rochester, New York, at a transportation cost of $2.80 per short ton; moreover in the milling process this material undergoes a weight loss of about 20 percent owing to the removal of impurities, chiefly iron. On the other hand, feldspar is ground at mills located relatively near the producing areas, and it does not undergo a significant weight loss in the process of grinding. 2/ At least some of the disadvantages resulting 1 See separate summaries, feldspar, crude, par. 207, and feldspar, ground, par. 214. 2/ The current rail rate from Rochester, N. Y., to Clarksburg, W. Va. (importent consuming area), per short ton, minimum carload weight of 60,000 pounds, for ground nepheline syenite is $7.42, whereas the present carload rate for ground feldspar from Spruce Pine, N.C., to the same destination in West Virginia is $8.48 per short ton. UNITED STATES TARIFF COMMISSION NEPHELINE SYENITE, CRUDE from the milling loss and higher transportation charges for nepheline syenite when compared with feldspar are offset by the higher alumina, soda, and potash content of nepheline syenite in comparison with the content of the same materials in feldspar. SUMMARIES OF TARIFF INFORMATION MINERALS, CRUDE, N.S.P.F. Tariff Status Par. 1719. Minerals, crude, or not advanced in value or condition, n.s.p.f., 1/ which were free of duty under the Tariff Act of 1922, are free of duty also under the Tariff Act of 1930. 1/ For purposes of this summary, the phrase "Minerals, crude, or not advanced in value or condition, n.s.p.f.," is limited to those nonmetallic minerals classified in par. 1719, which are not covered by any other summary under this paragraph (see Comment). Many crude minerals are dutiable. Trade Statistics Table 1.- Minerals, crude, n.s.p.f.: United States imports for consumption, by principal sources, in specified years, 1939 to 1948 Source: Official statistics of the U. S. Department of Commerce. Note. Statistics on United States production are not available, but production is known to be many times greater than imports. Statistics on exports are also not available; exports, however, probably represent less than 1 percent of production. |