Claremont Flock Seeks to Use FTZ Procedures to Promote American Manufacturing

An application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones ("FTZ") Board by the Massachusetts Port Authority, grantee of FTZ 27, requesting subzone status for the facility of Spectro Coating Corporation d/b/a Claremont Flock, LLC, located in Leominster, Massachusetts.

Claremont Flock, LLC, imports man-made fiber tow, with a rate of duty of 7.5%, and converts it to precision cut flock (rate of duty zero). Claremont's competitors who import cut flock duty-free have an unfair advantage over Claremont, which is committed to preserving flock manufacturing jobs in the U.S.A. This application, when approved, will allow Claremont to defer the duty paid on the imported tow until the finished flock enters U.S. commerce, at which time it will be subject the normal rate of duty. In the case of tow which is subsequently exported out of the U.S. as flock, Claremont will pay no duty on the tow.

Claremont was assisted in drafting the application by Agathon Associates. David Trumbull, principal, Agathon Associates, has, since 2007, represented the interests of domestic U.S.A. textile manufacturers in comments to the FTZ Board relating to many production applications and in several meetings with the Board in Washington, D.C.

Public comment is invited from interested parties. Submissions shall be addressed to the FTZ Board's Executive Secretary The closing period for their receipt is March 23, 2015.

A separate application for production relating to certain acrylic and rayon tow not produced in the U.S.A. is expected to be published in the Federal Register in a few days. The production application will relate to the same acrylic and rayon tow for which Claremont's domestic competitor, Cellusuede Products, Inc., received FTZ authorization in 2009. Thus the production application, when approved, will put Claremont at parity with as Cellusuede.