SUMMARIES OF TARIFF INFORMATION PREPARED FERTILIZER MIXTURES Tariff Status Par. 1685. Prepared fertilizer mixtures, which were free of duty under the Tariff Act of 1922, are free of duty also under the Tariff Act of 1930. Their duty-free status was bound in the trade agreement with the United Kingdom, effective January 1939, and in the Geneva agreement. Trade Statistics Table 1.- Prepared fertilizer mixtures: United States Includes Austria, 1938-43. 2/ Less than 500 short tons. 3/ Estimates based on consumption figures published by the U. S. Department of Agriculture. Preliminary. 5/ Not available. Source: Official statistics of the U. S. Department of Commerce, except as noted. This summary covers only peat moss of fertilizer (horticultural) grade. Peat moss, or moss peat-principally the remains of sphagnum mosses-is vegetation in a stage of decomposition between plant fiber and coal. It is one of the four major classes of peat, others (not covered by this summary) being sedimentary peat, reed and sedge peat, and woody peat. In the United States peat moss is found chiefly in the cool and humid regions of northern New England, especially in northeastern Maine, the Great Lakes States, and along the Pacific coast in northern Washington and Alaska. Peat moss is marketed in several grades based mainly on the degree of fineness of the shredding of the material. 1/ These grades include the fertilizer grade, the poultry litter grade, and the stable bedding grade. 2/ The fertilizer grade of peat moss consists of particles of small size, while peat moss for stable bedding and poultry litter is relatively coarse and lumpy. The total plant food content (nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash) of peat moss averages less than 1 percent by weight, and because of this low plant-food content the product is not a good fertilizer. However, the fertilizer grade is used as a filler for concentrated mineral fertilizers and also as a soil conditioner and composting material. Other types of peat, such as peat humus and reed or sedge peat, are also used in horticulture. United States production of peat moss (fertilizer grade) in 1948 is estimated to have been 10,000 long tons, valued at $116,000, with an average value of $10.17 per ton. The domestic output supplied about 16 percent of domestic consumption in 1948. United States imports of fertilizer grade peat moss in 1937-39 are estimated to have averaged annually about 48,000 long tons valued at $770,000. These imports came chiefly from Germany. During the war years, 1942-45, imports averaged annually about 23,000 long tons, valued at $656,000, and came chiefly from Canada. In 1946-48 imports averaged about 44,000 long tons, valued at $1,570,000 annually, and came principally from Canada with small amounts from the Netherlands, Germany and Sweden. Separate statistics on United States exports of peat moss are not available but exports, if any, are believed to be small. The process of manufacture consists of cutting the peat moss into blocks, spreading them to dry in the air, and tearing the blocks to pieces by the use of shredding machinery. The air-dried shredded material is then separated by passing it through rotary screens (sieving). 2/ Peat moss for poultry litter and stable bedding is dutiable under paragraph 1548. See separate summary under that paragraph. * POTASSIUM-SODIUM NITRATE MIXTURES, CRUDE Par. 1685. Potassium-sodium nitrate mixtures, crude are free of duty under this paragraph of the Tariff Act of 1930. This product is covered in the summary on"Potash Fertilizer Materials," par. 1745. This summary may be found in SUMMARIES OF TARIFF INFORMATION PREPARED FERTILIZER MIXTURES Tariff Status Par. 1685. Prepared fertilizer mixtures, which were free of duty under the Tariff Act of 1922, are free of duty also under the Tariff Act of 1930. Their duty-free status was bound in the trade agreement with the United Kingdom, effective January 1939, and in the Geneva agreement. Trade Statistics Table 1.- Prepared fertilizer mixtures: United States Includes Austria, 1938-43. 2/ Less than 500 short tons. 3/Estimates based on consumption figures published by the U. S. Department of Agriculture. Source: Official statistics of the U. S. Department of Commerce, except as noted. UNITED STATES TARIFF COMMISSION PREPARED FERTILIZER MIXTURES Comment These This summary covers prepared fertilizer mixtures containing two or more of the three principal plant food elements-nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash. mixtures are usually referred to as mixed fertilizers or mixed goods. Mixed goods containing all three of the plant food elements are known as complete mixtures. Some mixed fertilizers contain only two of the fertilizing elements and are called incomplete mixtures. The more commonly used incomplete mixtures are those containing phosphoric acid and potash but no nitrogen. United States production of prepared fertilizer mixtures, which averaged about 5,347,000 short tons per year, valued at $122,317,000, in 1937-39, has more than doubled in 1946-47, when production averaged 11,270,000 short tons per year, valued at $356,736,000 (see table 1). In 1947 approximately 90 percent of the production, based on quantity, was complete mixtures. Small amounts of the incomplete mixtures are used in making complete fertilizers; therefore, the production figures shown in table 1 contain a certain amount of duplication. The phosphatic and potash raw materials are in ample supply in the United States, but the domestic supply of nitrogenous raw materials, although covering the greater part of United States needs, has been supplemented by considerable quantities of imports. 1/ United States imports of prepared fertilizer mixtures averaged about 40,000 short tons annually, valued at $1,600,000 (foreign value), in 1938-47. These inports were less than 1 percent of production and were predominantly from Canada (see table 1). Imports in 1948 amounted to 39,000 tons, valued at $1,929,000. Domestic exports of prepared fertilizer mixtures have accounted for a very small part of production. In 1937-39 they averaged somewhat more than 5,000 tons annually and in postwar years they have ranged from about 16,000 tons in 1946 to about 35,000 tons in 1948. See separate summaries on phosphate (pars. 1685 and 1740), on nitrogenous |