Plywall Products Co. v. United States

60 Cust. Ct. 808, 1968 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 2463
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedApril 3, 1968
DocketR.D. 11507; Entry No. 229144
StatusPublished

This text of 60 Cust. Ct. 808 (Plywall Products Co. 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
Plywall Products Co. v. United States, 60 Cust. Ct. 808, 1968 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 2463 (cusc 1968).

Opinion

Watson, Judge:

This appeal for reappraisement involves 80,000 pieces of print-grade rotary-cut lauan plywood, type II, each piece being, as described on the invoice, in the size of “%6 x 4 x 7”, exported from Korea on or about September 19,1963. The merchandise was invoiced at a C. & F. American port unit price of $52,303 (United States currency) per thousand square feet.

Entry of the involved merchandise was made at $46.50 (United States currency) per thousand square feet. Appraisement of the merchandise was made at the latter value, on the basis of export value, as defined in section 402(b) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended by the Customs Simplification Act of 1956, T.D. 54165. Plaintiff claims the correct export value, as above defined, is the entered value, less a quantity discount of iy2 percent.

Section 402(b) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended by the Customs Simplification Act of 1956, provides:

(b) EXPORT value. — For the purposes of this section, the export value of imported merchandise shall be the price, at the time of ex[809]*809portation to the United States of the merchandise undergoing appraisement, at which such or similar merchandise is freely sold or, in the absence of sales, offered for sale in the principal markets of the country of exportation, in the usual wholesale quantities and in the ordinary course of trade, for exportation to the United States, plus, when not included in such price, the cost of all containers and coverings of whatever nature and all other expenses incidental to placing the merchandise in condition, packed ready for shipment to the United States.

It was stipulated between counsel that this merchandise is not on the final list promulgated under the Customs Simplification Act of 1956 and that the proper basis of appraisement is export value, section 402(b) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended, supra. (R. 3-4.)

The issue in this case, therefore, is whether the plaintiff has established that the involved merchandise was freely sold or offered for sale to all purchasers, for exportation to the United States, at a price) of $46.50 per thousand square feet, less a iy2 percent quantity discount.

The record in this case consists of two exhibits together with the testimony of one witness, offered on behalf of the plaintiff.

Plaintiff’s exhibit 1 is an affidavit executed by Mr. Taik Bo Chun, president of Chunusa Company, Ltd., shipper of the plywood herein involved. He testified that he is responsible for the pricing and sales of the plywood his firm makes, both for home consumption and for exportation. He further testified that, although the plaintiff in this case takes 90 percent of Chunusa’s production of export grade plywood, Chunusa has no exclusive agreement with the plaintiff. With regard to plywood offered by his firm for exportation to the United States, the affiant stated:

That my firm offered its plywood for exportation to the United States, in two different ways, either at a price which includes the cost of packing and other charges incident to placing the merchandise in condition packed ready for shipment to the United States as well as the freight from our factory or principal place of business and other handling charges necessary to placing the merchandise on vessels to be transported to the United States, or at a price including all the foregoing plus ocean freight to any American port. Whether the purchaser buys at the current f.o.b. Korean port price or at the current C & F American port price is up to the purchaser to choose. The difference between the f.o.b. price for any one particular grade of plywood at any one time from the C & F West Coast port price is the inclusion of $6.50 per thousand square feet as freight to the West Coast of the United States.
That the price we quote is the same to all purchasers except that we do grant a 1 y2% quantity discount from the f.o.b. price to any purchaser buying over one million square feet per order. That, for example, with regard to our print grade plywood in size %6" thickness in 4' x V or 4' x 8' our firm was offering this plywood for exportation to the United States from July through October 1963 at an f.o.b. price of $46.50 per thousand square feet and a C & F price to the West Coast [810]*810of $53.00 per thousand square feet, which latter price again included the $6.50 per M. Sq. Ft. for ocean freight. On orders of over one million square feet, the net f.o.b. price after deduction of the 1%% discount came to $45.80 per M. Sq. Ft.
* * * * * ❖ *
That during the six last months of 1963 the greatest aggregate of sales made by our firm of the print grade plywood, %6" thickness of either 4' x 7' or 4' x 8' for export to the United States was at the price which included the 1 quantity discount as is shown by the following list of sales for export to the United States during this period wherein the terms were all C & F West Coast Port:
Date of Purchase Order Amount of Plywood Price per MSF
August 9, 1963 11,280 MSF $52. 303
November 12, 1963 6,120 MSF $50, 825

Plaintiff’s exhibit 2 is a purchase order dated April 12, 1963, of plaintiff herein for 100,000 pieces (2,800,000 square feet) of plywood from Chunusa Company, Ltd. The order resulted in a partial shipment of the 80,000 pieces involved herein. The order specifies both $53 per thousand square feet, C. & F. San Diego, California, and $46.50 per thousand square feet, f.o.b., plus $6.50 per thousand square feet “freight”, as the price and contains the following note:

Less 1 y2% FOB cash discount and .500/MS F repayment of New York loan.

Plaintiff’s witness was Mr. William Suiter, formerly manager of the import department of the plaintiff company, who testified that as such he was responsible for arranging for its purchase of plywood. He states that he placed purchase orders “for a minimum of 90 days, ahead of time” because the plywood mills preferred quarterly orders. (R. 9.) The witness identified plaintiff’s exhibit 2 as an order placed by him while in Korea, which is one of which the importation at bar is a partial shipment or delivery. (R. 12.) Mr. Suiter then testified that he first visited the Chunusa Company, Ltd., the supplier in this case, some time around April 1962, on which occasion he became familiar with Chunusa’s production capacity for print-grade plywood. Fie stated that, on the basis of inspecting its factory and personally viewing the machinery which Chunusa had for the production of plywood, he concluded that “we were purchasing approximately 90 percent of their total capacity, total export capacity.” (E. 15.) Mr. Suiter further testified that “in view of the quantity” of plywood the plaintiff was buying, he suggested to Chunusa that plaintiff “should be entitled to a discount below the price that other people buying lesser quantities * * * would be entitled to.” (E. 16.) The record discloses that plaintiff was then buying approximately 3,000,000 square feet.

On cross-examination, Mr. Suiter, in further explanation of his discount arrangements with Chunusa, testified that he and Mr. Flahive, [811]

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Bluebook (online)
60 Cust. Ct. 808, 1968 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 2463, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/plywall-products-co-v-united-states-cusc-1968.