141 



Just tell me how that dialog occurs. Is it by your national asso- 

 ciation or do you, as an individual entrepreneur, get into it? 



Mr. Webster. As individual entrepreneurs, we are absolutely de- 

 pendent on our national association working through the American 

 Hardwood Export Council which in turn works with the FAS man- 

 agement promotion program. It is a solid stream. 



I am a very small operator. I have no access to international 

 markets. To travel abroad to establish markets of any kind is prob- 

 ably $500 to $1,000 a day and my business can't stand that and 

 there are hundreds and hundreds £ind hundreds like me, we are 

 very small operators. But the market promotion program and 

 AHEC and FAS has put together this stream so that there is a 

 weekly flow of information mailed to us by our overseas offices that 

 have been established by FAS and American Hardwood Export 

 Council. 



We read the promotional materials, materials sa3dng that we no- 

 ticed that certain markets are accepting different kinds of wood or 

 could use these kinds of wood, there are different t5T)es of cus- 

 tomers seeking materials from producers such as myself that don't 

 have contacts with American people, that they put buyers and sell- 

 ers together. 



Mr. Horn, You found that fairly effective in your case to really 

 add bills overseas for you. 



Mr. Webster. I think it has just been a wonderful program. The 

 FAS program started in 1985 on $3 billion of exports in the forest 

 products industry. Today it is up to $7 billion. In 1993, it is going 

 to be $7.5 billion and we are estimating in the year 2000, it is 

 going to be $12 bUlion to $15 billion if these programs stay in place 

 or are enhanced. We are tremendously impressed by it and, frank- 

 ly, the only thing additional we would like to have — and I don't 

 know if I can bring it up at this hearing, but I have 



Mr. Horn. Don't be bashful. 



Mr. Webster. All right. The new GATT round is coming up De- 

 cember 15. And the wood fiber industry would love to have a level 

 playing field, zero-zero tariffs. We would love to have a level play- 

 ing field. We bump into tariffs in Japan and several other countries 

 all the time and all that our industry asks is a level playing field. 

 And our industry is highly fragmented. 



We are a bunch of very small operators. There are a few big pub- 

 lic companies, but we are primarily small operators. This market 

 promotion program has been wonderful for us. Every dollar that 

 the Government has invested has yielded $394 in return. It has 

 just been a wonderful program for us and we hate to see you dis- 

 turb anjrthing that doesn't need to be fixed and it works so well, 

 sir. 



Mr. Horn. I thank you. Ms. Colon, do you share Mr. Webster's 

 enthusiasm? 



Ms. Colon. Yes, I do. If I may go back to my example that I stat- 

 ed in the testimony regarding nonfat dry milk. Prior to 1988, Mex- 

 ico had always been a regular customer of the United States for 

 nonfat, primarily from the CCC stocks. 



Back in 1987, early 1988, it became apparent that the stocks had 

 been so depleted that the CCC advised the Mexican buyer at that 



