OPS Grants Price Relief on lmported Lumber, Logs, Wood Products

(CPR 165 - Lumber, Loss and

Washington, D. C., August Z-OPS today provided price relief from higher purchase costs for importers of lumber, logs and allied wood products. Major source of supply is Canada, accounting for 90 per cent of lumber imports and 65 per cent of log imports

Today's Ceiling Price Regulation 165, efiective August 26, 1952, provides methods for use by importers in figuring average markups above landed costs during the base period, January 1 through June 30, 1950. l\{arkups may be figured on a product line basis (lumber, logs, millwork, or plywood) or on an item basis (board, dimension, planks, or timbers; a species of logs; items of millwork, such as doors or window sash) in accordance with each seller's customary base period practice. As figured, the markups are applied to current landed costs to obtain ceiling prices.

Today's action provides (1) compliance with the Herlong amendment to the Defense Production Act and (2) a single regulation under which importers of logs, lumber and allied wood products may establish ceilings, OPS said. The }Ierlong amendment requires that all price regulations permit resellers, including importers, their customary (preKorean) margins.

CPR 165 supersedes the General Ceiling Price Regulation (GCPR3, for sales of imported lumber and logs and the imports regulation, Ceiling Price Regulation 31, for sales of such wood products as veneer, plywood and millwork. The GCPR froze imported lumber and log prices generally at the highest pri.ces charged between December 19, 1950, and January 25,1951. Although CPR 31 provided base period dollars-and-cents markups over landed costs of veneer, plywood and millwork. it did not allow importers of lumber and logs their customary percentage margins.

Effect of today's regulation is to provide much greater flexibility than was possible under either the provisions of the GCPR or CPR 31 for importers of lumber, logs and wood products, QPS said. Immediate price effect will be

Allied \Uood Products - lmports)

e slight increase over current ceilings. However, the agency does not believe price rises will be significant because the majority of imported lumber items are a supplement to domestic production and prices must be competitive with those of domestic producers.

DETAILS OF. THE REGULATION

Effective August 26, 1952.

Supersedes the General Ceiling Price Regulation (GCPR) and the imports regulation, CPR 31, for the products covered.

Products Covered

These are listed in Appendix A of the regulation in accordance with the Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, August 1, 1950, publication, "statistical Classification of Commodities Imported into the United States.,'

Examples of products included in the numbered classifications listed in Appendix A are:

All imported logs such as birch and with the exception of mahogany.

Lumber-Douglas fir, white pine, birch, teak and Parara pine.

Millwork such as doors.

Plywood.

Raw cork.

Wooden boxes used, for example, to package fruits.

Sales Covered

A11 sales of the imported cornmodities in the 48 States z,nd the District of Columbia are covered by this regulation. However, the regulation generally does not affect performi:nce of written contracts entered into before the effffective date of the regulation, nor apply to sales of commodities for transshipment abroad.

Base Period

January 1 through June 30, 1950. This period is gen-

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Lo' Ang'l'r 17' C'litornlo erally representative of lumber importing operations, reflecting customary mergins for resellers in accordance with the Herlong amendment to the Defense Production Act. lfowever, the calendar year 1949 is provided for importers who made no sales during the base period or deliveries under contracts to sell during the six-month base period. Use of calendar year 1949 also complies with Herlong amendment requirements.

Pricing Method

An importer's base period percentage markup may be figured on an item basis or on a product line basis depending upon each seller's customary base period practice. The same principle applies to both types of calculations.

Steps in figuring the base period percentage markup on an item basis are:

(1) Add up the total dollar value of all sales made during the base period, and of all deliveries under contracts to sell an item made during the base period, to the same class of buyer.

(2) Determine the total dollar value of sales or deliveries under contracts to sell that represent not less than the last 25 per cent of the total dollar value of item (1).

(3) Subtract total landed costs incurred in importing the products covered bV Q) from the total dollar value of sales, as determined under (2). The result is the base period dollars-and-cents markup.

(4) To figure the hase period percentage markup, divide the dollars-and-cents markup by the applicable landed costs ior the item.

Recalculation of ceilings is required where landed costs ere decreased. Refiguring is optional where landed costs increase. llor,r'ever, the regulation provides an alternative method for computing ceilings for items in inventory on the basis of average landed costs.

Placing New Ceilings in Effect

To make sales on the basis of percentage markups (1) on product lines or items handled in the base period and (2) sold to the same class of buyers as during the base peiod, no filing with OPS or waiting period is required under this r-egulation.

Applications to OPS, Forest Products Division, Washington 25, D. C., are required to handle pricing for nerv sellers and exceptional pricing situations for importers. The regulation provides for these special situations. For such applications, approval is automatic 20 days after receipt of an application by OPS or 15 days after receipt of additional information requested by OPS. These actions are subject to nonretroactive disapproval or adjustment at a later date. Definitions

An II\{PORTER, rvithin the meaning of this regulation, is a person who imports from a foreign countrv a product r:overed by the regulation and first sells the product after irirportation without materially altering its form. Not considered an importer :,ubject to this regulation is an agent of a foreign seller who does not take title to a product that is imported and who is paid on a commission basis.

LANDED COST is the foreign invoice cost plus costs of importation. These costs include, but are not limited to, tirose for kiln drying, milling in transit, yard storage, sticking, stacking, inspecting, tallying, unloading and loading into carrier.