Good Evening Everyone,
I'm no longer in the business having sold out during the start-up phase, but I thought this might interest some members here. The US Trade Commission is considering a 100% ad valorem tariff on many copper, brass, cupro-nickel, and bronze products. Obviously, this will have a tremendous impact on many materials going into the manufacture of distillation equipment. If anyone is interested in submitting a letter, I have attached both a form letter to submit, and the letter from Olin Brass that started the issue.
While I don't expect everyone to jump into action, I strongly advise that you contact your equipment manufacturers to make sure they are aware and that they have back-up plans in case lead times and prices explode this fall as a result of any tariff/duty assessments. Feel free to contact me via pm with any questions.
Full disclosure: I am currently an employee/owner in another manufacturing business that stands to be negatively affected. I'm not trying to hide any intentions with this post, but I'm thinking distillers probably have a common interest in keeping copper products available to manufacturers. There has not been a lot of publicity in this hearing, which I find a bit concerning.
Key dates:
• July 24, 2019: Due date for submission of requests to appear at the public hearing and summary of testimony.
• August 5, 2019: Due date for submission of written comments.
• August 5, 2019: The Section 301 Committee will convene a public hearing in the Main Hearing Room of the U.S. International Trade Commission, 500 E Street SW, Washington DC 20436 beginning at 9:30 a.m.
• August 12, 2019: Due date for submission of post-hearing rebuttal comments.
Olin Letter Requesting Additional Tariffs.pdf
COMMENT TEMPLATE Section 301 Written Comments from Distillers.docx