General Foods Corp. v. United States

22 Cust. Ct. 401, 1949 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1776
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedFebruary 10, 1949
DocketNo. 7663; Entry Nos. 747; 1193; 784819, etc.; 7134
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 22 Cust. Ct. 401 (General Foods Corp. v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Customs Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
General Foods Corp. v. United States, 22 Cust. Ct. 401, 1949 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1776 (cusc 1949).

Opinion

Mollison, Judge:

The six appeals for reappraisement listed in schedule “A”, attached to and made a part hereof, were consolidated for the purpose of trial, and involve the value of concentrated fruit pectin in 5-gallon tins exported from Canada during March and April 1947. The six appeals cover a total of 6,630 cases, each case containing one tin, each tin containing 43 % pounds.

The merchandise was originally entered at the invoiced value of U. S. $2.50 per case, but subsequently each entry was amended to a value of Can. $4,375 per case, net, packed, which value was adopted by the appraiser upon appraisement. The plaintiffs claim that the proper value of the merchandise was Can. $2.93 per case, net, packed, for the merchandise exported in March 1947, and Can. $2.90 per case, net, packed, for the merchandise exported in April 1947.

Both sides are in agreement that the proper basis of value of the merchandise is'foreign value, as defined in section 402 (c) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended by section 8 of the Customs Administrative Act of 1938 (52 Stat. 1081), which section, as amended, is quoted in the margin,1 it appearing that at the time of the exporta-tions here involved such or similar merchandise was freely offered for sale for home consumption in Canada within the requirements of the statute, but that it was not freely offered for sale for exportation therefrom.

It appears from the evidence that at the time of exportation of the merchandise here involved, concentrated fruit pectin was freely offered for sale in Canada packed in two ways, viz, in 5-gallon tins holding 43 % pounds each, and in birch barrels holding 510 pounds each. It likewise appears that the composition of the concentrated fruit pectin so offered was the same in each case, save that that packed in barrels contained a preservative, while that packed in 5-gallon tins did not, with the result that the pectin contained in the tins had to be used immediately upon opening, or it would spoil, while decomposition would be delayed in the case of the pectin with the added preservative contained in the barrels.

It is the plaintiffs’ contention herein that notwithstanding the addition of the preservative to the pectin contained in the barrels, it was, [403]*403within the meaning of the term as used in the statute, supra, “such” merchandise as the pectin contained in the tins, both as imported and as sold for home consumption in Canada. Further, it is the plaintiffs’ contention that the major portion of sales of concentrated fruit pectin in Canada at the time of exportation of the merchandise here involved was in barrels — specifically, in lots of 10 or more barrels — and that the pectin at bar should be valued for duty purposes at the pound price of pectin so offered, less the costs of the barrel packing, plus the costs of the packing in tins.

The defendant, on the other hand, makes two contentions: First, that the plaintiffs have failed to establish that the pectin offered for sale in barrels in Canada, which contained a preservative, was “such” merchandise, within the meaning of that term as used in the statute,, as the imported pectin without the preservative. Further in this connection it is contended that the merchandise offered for sale in tins in Canada was identical with, or “such” as, the merchandise contained in the imported tins, while at most the merchandise offered for sale in barrels in Canada, since it contained a preservative, was only similar thereto, and under the well-settled rule where values exist for both such and similar merchandise the value for such merchandise establishes the statutory value rather than the value for similar merchandise. United States v. Meadows Wye & Co., Inc., 15 Ct. Cust. Appls. 451, T. D. 42643, cited.

Alternatively, the defendant contends that even if the pectin contained in the barrels offered for sale in Canada be considered to have been “such” pectin as that contained in the tins, nevertheless, the barreled pectin, which was sold by the pound, was a separate commercial article from the tinned pectin, which was sold by the crate of two tins.

With respect to the first point at issue, namely, the identity or similarity of the pectin containing the preservative and the pectin without the preservative, the record is very meager. For the plaintiffs there was offered and received in evidence as exhibit 1 the affidavit of Richard T. Mohan, president and managing director of the exporting corporation, sworn to before a notary public on December 17, 1947. In paragraph (4) thereof, Mr. Mohan makes the following statement:

(4) Composition of the concentrated fruit pectin sold in barrels differs from the concentrated fruit pectin packed in five-gallon cans only in that the concentrated fruit pectin packed in barrels contains a preservative.

I do not regard the foregoing statement with respect to the composition of the pectin as offered in barrels and in tins as establishing the identity for valuation purposes of the barreled pectin with the tinned pectin. It may very well be, for all the record shows directly or indirectly, that the addition of the preservative to the barreled pectin [404]*404resulted in an enhancement of the value of the pectin, or it may have resulted in a diminution of such value, or it may have left the value unaffected. The fact is, there is no evidence on the point.

I am of the opinion, however, that decision in these cases need not turn on that point alone. As part of the affidavit, exhibit 1, plaintiffs have submitted a rather complete exposition of packing costs and selling prices during the period here in question. Certain interesting results are reached from an examination of these figures.

Taking the plaintiffs’ claimed figure of Can. $0.07 per pound as the price at which barreled pectin was freely offered for sale, packed, during the month of March 1947, it appears that Can. $0.0218 of that figure represented the costs to the manufacturer of packing in barrels, leaving Can. $0.0482 per pound as what is termed by the affiant Mohan as the “Market value of pectin exclusive of packing costs” in March 1947. (Plaintiffs’ exhibit 1, page 7.)

In Mr. Mohan’s affidavit, exhibit 1, sufficient data are given with which a similar calculation can be performed with respect to the pectin offered for sale in Canada packed in tins during March 1947. Thus, it appears that Can. $4,375 per tin was the price at which tinned pectin was freely offered for sale in March 1947 (exhibit “B” of plaintiffs’ exhibit 1), and that Can. $1,003 of that figure represented costs to the manufacturer of packing in tins (plaintiffs’ exhibit 1, page 6), leaving Can. $3,372 as the “market value of pectin exclusive of packing costs” of the 43% pounds contained in each tin.2

When $3,372 is divided by 43% in order to arrive at the pound price, a figure of Can. $0.0775 is arrived at. Thus, using plaintiffs’ own figures, the pectin per se contained in the barrels had a market value or price of Can. $0.0482 per pound while that in the tins had a market value or price of Can. $0.0775.

Similar results are arrived at upon calculations involving the packing costs and selling prices in effect in Ap'ril 1947.

If, as the plaintiffs contend, notwithstanding the foregoing, the pectin in barrels and in tins was identical in value, i. e., at Can. $0.0482 per pound, then the only explanation for the higher packed

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Related

American Agar & Chemical Co. v. United States
27 Cust. Ct. 383 (U.S. Customs Court, 1951)

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Bluebook (online)
22 Cust. Ct. 401, 1949 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1776, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/general-foods-corp-v-united-states-cusc-1949.