Uniform Grain and Rice Storage Agreement Fees

[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 91 (Wednesday, May 12, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 25473-25474]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-11993]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Commodity Credit Corporation


Uniform Grain and Rice Storage Agreement Fees

AGENCY: Commodity Credit Corporation, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of fees.

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SUMMARY: The purpose of this notice is to publish a schedule of fees to 
be paid to Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) by grain and rice 
warehouse operators requesting to enter into a storage agreement to 
store CCC commodities or commodities pledged as collateral for

[[Page 25474]]

CCC loans; increase the amount of storage covered by an existing 
storage agreement for storage of such commodities; or renew an existing 
agreement for the storage of such commodities.

EFFECTIVE DATE: April 1, 1999.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Howard Froehlich, Chief, Storage 
Contract Branch, Warehouse and Inventory Division, Farm Service Agency, 
United States Department of Agriculture, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW 
STOP 0553, Washington, DC 20250-0553, telephone (202) 720-7398, FAX 
(202) 690-3123.
    Determination: In accordance with the provisions of the Commodity 
Credit Corporation Charter Act (15 U.S.C. 714 et seq.), CCC enters into 
storage agreements with grain and rice warehouse operators to provide 
for the storage of commodities owned by CCC or pledged as security to 
CCC for marketing assistance loans.
    Specifically, 7 CFR part 1421.5558 provides that all grain and rice 
warehouse operators who do not have an existing agreement with CCC for 
storage and handling of CCC-owned commodities or commodities pledged to 
CCC as loan collateral, but who desire such an agreement, must pay an 
application and examination fee for each warehouse for which CCC 
approval is sought prior to CCC conducting the original warehouse 
examination.
    A review of the revenue collected for application and examination 
fees indicates that the fees collected are insufficient to meet costs 
incurred by CCC for warehouse examinations and contract origination 
administrative functions. Accordingly, beginning April 1 with the start 
of the 1999-2000 contract year, the fees are changed by increasing by 
7.5 percent those fees applicable to the 1998-99 contract year.
    The fee will be computed at the rate of $16 for each 10,000 bushels 
of storage capacity or fraction thereof, but the fee will be not less 
than $160 nor more than $1,600.
    Further each warehouse operator who has a non-federally licensed 
grain or rice warehouse in States that do not have a cooperative 
agreement with CCC for warehouse examinations must additionally pay an 
annual fee to CCC for each such warehouse which is approved by CCC or 
for which CCC approval is sought. The collection of the additional fee 
by CCC is currently suspended. CCC continues to suspend collection of 
the annual fee, but CCC may reinstate the annual fee by future notice 
to the industry.

    Signed at Washington, DC, on May 5, 1999.
Keith Kelly,
Executive Vice President, Commodity Credit Corporation.
[FR Doc. 99-11993 Filed 5-11-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-05-P