No Serious Injury to Domestic Fishing Rod Industry
No Serious Injury to Domestic Fishing Rod Industry; This may not be great literature but it is important historically to the fishing industry. In the late 1970s, American rod making concerns saw a steep decline in sales due to the economic recession and foreign imports. As a group, they applied to the U.S. International Trade Commission for relief. After a thorough analysis the Commission released a 114 page report in which the lead investigator declared conclusively that the rod industry was being decimated by imports. Despite this finding, the commission declared that foreign rods “are not being imported into the United States in such increased quantities as to be a substantial cause of serious injury, or the threat thereof, to the domestic industry producing articles like or directly competitive with the imported articles.” Their logic for this decision is reprinted below. It might be good to recognize that when the study began in 1978, there were over forty domestic rod making companies. By the end of the 1980s there were almost none left, and most of those still in business were having their rods made overseas. — Ed.
NO SERIOUS INJURY TO DOMESTIC FISHING ROD INDUSTRY
By the United States Trade Commission
…………Data were obtained by the Commission on average wholesale prices received by manufacturers and importers for their best-selling rods. These data are difficult to interpret because of numerous significant differences in the characteristics of the various products. But the data do not indicate underselling. The average domestic spin-casting rods were consistently priced well under the imported spin-casting rods throughout the period January 1978-June 1981. The best-selling domestic spinning rods have increased in price since 1978, while the best-selling imported spinning rods have fallen in price and since 1980 have been less costly than the domestic rods. U.S. producers prices for best-selling bait-casting rods have risen sharply since 1978, and since 1979 have averaged well above prices for the imported products. There has been no reliable indication that these changes in relative prices represent anything more than changes in the types of rods being domestically produced and imported.
In summary, notwithstanding the financial difficulties which several of the smaller producers are experiencing, we have concluded that the industry is not in such a condition as to be “seriously injured.”………..
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