- 26 - 



Under the Philippine Trade Agreement Revision Act, effective January 1, 

 1956, specified quantities of cigar filler and scrap from the Philippines enter 

 the United States duty-f:ree. The duty-free quota for 1959-61 is 5,850,000 

 pounds; for i962-6U.it will be 5,200,000 pounds, and for 1965-67, 3,900,000 

 pounds. The duty-free quota will continue to decline in accordance with a speci- 

 fied schedule until it reaches zero by 197*+- Imports in excess of the duty-free 

 quota are dutiable at the rates applicable to Cuba. In both 1956 and 1957, im- 

 ports of cigar filler and scrap from the Philippines were a little more than the 

 duty-free quota; in 1958 i-hey were a little short of the quota. In 1959, how- 

 ever, imports exceeded the duty-free quota by about 1-3/4 million pounds or 30 

 percent, and in i960, exceeded the duty-free quota by over 4-1/2 million pounds 

 or nearly 80 percent. In the first 8 months of 1961, imports already have ex- 

 ceeded the duty-free quota for the full year by about 3-9 million pounds or 66 

 percent. 



For countries other than Cuba and the Philippine Republic that are outside 

 the Soviet Bloc, the duty on unstemmed filler and scrap is 3-1/2 cents a pound 

 higher and on stemmed filler 5 cents a pound higher than the Cuban rate. For all 

 sources, the import duty o:n scrap is lower than on stemmed filler, and the 5 to 

 7 cents a pound difference applicable to our major sources of supply undoubtedly 

 has encouraged the importation of cigar tobacco in scrap form. 



Table 2. --United States duty rates on imported cigar tobacco 





Wrappe 



>r 1/ 



Filler 





country of origin 



! IIn - ! 



stemmed! 



Stemmed 



Un- 

 stemmed 



;Stemmed 



■Scrap 





: Cents 



Cents 



Cents 



Cents 



Cents 





per 



per 



per 



per 



per 





pound 



pound 



pound 



pound 



pound 



Cuba : 



81.9 



15^.8 



12.6 



18.0 



12.6 



Philippine Republic : 



81.9 



15^.8 



2/ 



2/ 



2/ 



Countries outside the Soviet Bloc . 



90.9 



154.8 



16 1 



23.0 



16T1 



Soviet Bloc countries, except Poland ; 



227.5 



292.5 



35-0 



50.0 



35-0 



1/ Also filler tobacco when mixed or packed with more than 35 percent of wrapper 

 tobacco. 



2/ A duty-free quota of 5*850, 000 pounds of cigar filler and scrap is in effect 

 for 1959-61; for 1962-64 the quota will be 5,200,000 pounds and for 1965-67, 

 3,900,000 pounds. Imports in excess of the duty-free quota are dutiable at the 

 rates applicable to Cuba. 



