Press and Sun-Bulletin from Binghamton, New York • 11

Ml) in The Evening Press Binghamton. N.Y. 5-B June 21, 1983 Economy bursts out of lag Digest WASHINGTON (AP) The U.S. economy. bursting out of the long recession, is speeding ahead at a 6.6 percent annual rate tne stui-unf inished second quarter, government figures indicated today.

The Commerce Department "Hash estimate" of growth in inflation-adjusted, or real, gross national product showed American business expanding at the fastest pace since the 7.9 percent annual rate for the first quar couraging in recent weeks, including yester-' day's Commerce figures showing Americans' personal income rising 1.2 percent in May the biggest one-month gain in nearly three -years. And personal consumption spending rose 1.4 percent, the most since August 1981, that report said. Allen Sinai, a senior vice president with Data Resources Inc. in Lexington, said, "What these figures are telling us is that we are having a real barn-burner of a second quarter." "And they are telling us that the momen- turn that consumption is generating in sales, depleted inventories and the need for, increased production is substantial momentum," he said. The Reagan administration is officially predicting real GNP growth of 4.7 percent from the fourth quarter of last year to the fourth quarter of this year.

quarter, slightly faster than the 3 .2 percent of the first quarter, officials said. The economy last expanded so briskly in the first quarter of 1981, but Reagan administration officials said at the time that that big gain was not realistic and that worse times were coming. After the big jump as President Reagan was coming into office, the economy drifted for another quarter and then sagged into recession in late summer of 1981. Critics blamed Reagan economic policies, but the administration and its defenders said the downturn was the inevitable result of the policies of Reagan's predecessor, Jimmy Carter. Today's report on GNP covers the entire economy, attempting to measure or estimate the nation's entire second-quarter output of goods and services and comparing it to the first quarter.

Other, narrower reports have also been en In addition, the report said U.S. corporations' profits rose 1.1 percent before taxes and dipped 4.4 percent after taxes in the first rather than rising 1.4 percent and ailing 4.6 percent, respectively, as earlier estimated. Inflation, as measured by the broad-based GNP implicit price deflator, was 5.5 percent, instead of the earlier estimated 5.7 percent, in the first quarter. However, private economists and government officials are already considering the first quarter old news, choosing instead to celebrate the economic vitality showing up in the second quarter. Some have said growth could be as strong or stronger in the third quarter before rising interest rates cool the economy down a bit toward the end of the year.

The GNP-linked inflation gauge is rising at an annual rate of 4 percent in the current ter of 1981. Commenting in advance of today's figures, one private economist referred to the second quarter as "a real barn burner." And Commerce Secretary Malcolm Baldrige said he expected "further vigorous economic growth this summer." The new report also slightly revised first- Treasury bills reach 9 percent Yields on short-term Treasury securities continued upward trend of the last few weeks and hare reached the highest levels since last year, officials said. Three-month T-bills were sold yesterday at an average discount rate of 8.98 percent, up from the 8.73 percent of last week and the highest yield since 10.025 percent was posted in August 1982. Six-month bills were sold at an average rate of 9.02 percent, up from 8.83 percent. The yield was at the highest level since October 1982, when the average discount rate was 9.229 percent.

The new discount rates understate the actual return to investors 9.34 percent for three-month bills and 9.61 percent for six-month bills. beginning today, in private accounts linked to the T-M rates: Savings and loan associations and commercial banks may pay as much as 9.27 percent interest on six-month money market certificates compared with the 9.08 percent of the past week. Banks and may pay as much as 8.98 percent on three-month certificates, up from last week's 8.73 percent. quarter figures, now estimating a still-modest 2.6 percent increase at an annual rate rather than the 2.5 percent estimated one month ago. Manufacturing improves World Debt External debt of developing countries In billions of dollars, all maturities Employers say they see more hiring in third quarter $650r 600 550 500 450 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 would be hiring.

However, the Northeast is not helping keep the percentages high. Cole said midwestern and western manufacturers reported the highest number of job opportunities. In non-durable goods, for instance, the number of western employers expecting to hire is four times the number planning to cut back staff, Cole said. "Service employers predict hiring activity for the coming three months to be the best since second auarter 1981. Current figures are far better than i lose reported one year ago at this time.

"Hiring activity for the coming three months -(for wholesale and retail merchants) is the strong-; est reported for a third quarter since 1978. While' Northeastern merchants plan improved hiring ac- tivity, the pace is not expected to be much ahead of -that reported last quarter. "The employment outlook for the finance, insur- ance and real estate sector is expected to be the best ri in four years. "rl "The hiring pace by transportation and public utility employers is not expected to be as brisk that reported by other sectors. 1 By KEVIN MANEY Hiring in construction, manufacturing and a few other areas is on the rise this summer, according to a survey released yesterday by Manpower Inc.

temporary services firm. Nationally, 36 percent of construction employers surveyed said they plan to hire additional workers during the third quarter July, August and September of this year, and eight percent said they expect staff reductions, the quarterly Employment Outlook Survey reported. A year ago, just 24 percent planned staff additions and 14 percent said they would reduce their force, a Manpower spokesman said. "Hiring activity by manufacturers is expected to be the best of all employment sectors with employment levels predicted to be their highest since 1979," said Donna Cole, director of Marketing of Binghamton area Manpower offices. Thirty percent of durable goods manufacturers polled said they plan to hire in the third quarter.

About 16 percent said the same thing a year ago. The survey said manufacturers of non-durable goods were not as optimistic, as 26 percent said they 0 82 81 80 78 79 1975 76 77 The biggest debtors In billions of dollars Brazil $82.0 1 Mexico Mont, bank tax struck down The state of Montana may not tax the income earned by its banks and savings and loan associations on investments in Treasury bills and other federal government securities, the Supreme Court says. i The court, without comment yesterday, left intact a Montana Supreme Court ruling that a federal law prohibits state taxation of such income. Twenty-five states had joined in filing arguments supporting Montana's effort to impose its corporate franchise tax on the interest from investments in federal government obligations. Wisconsin tax official Daniel Smith has estimated that application of the Montana court's interpretation of the federal law in his state alone could result ta the refunding of some $50 million to banks and savings and loan associations.

But the high court's action carried no binding effect outside Montana, because its refusal to study the issue was not a decision on the merits of the legal question. GE gets connector contract I The General Electric Co. plant on Main Street, Westover, won an $85,120 military contract. The contract, awarded by the Defense Electronics Supply Center, is for the production of 560 electrical connectors. -v' The Defense Electronics Supply Center buys and manages electronic component parts for the armed services and civilian agencies of the federal Federal agencies create funds for small firm research grants Baltimore Evening Sua $38.0 $35.8 Tenezueia 831.3 Thlppne $22.4 yfK $21.0 zAiffcei JL4TrV I Turkey $19.0 I.C.'M.3i Og -M'-' Ay1 Tortugat $12-9 CS Peru $11.1 TStno1 $10.5 Altogether about 700 grants, none for more than $50,000, will be given to small business this said Don Templeman, a U.S.

Small Business Administration official. "There are 604 different topics cov-ering just about every scientific area," he said. purpose of the program is to encouraee the "i 1 "1 i. Hundreds of small, high-technology companies throughout the nation soon will learn if they are to receive a share of the approximately $45 million the federal government is granting in research and de velopment contracts in fiscal 1983. The money awards are part of the Small Business Innovation Development Act of 1982, which directs, certain federal departments and agencies to divert a portion of their research and development budgets to selected small businesses.

By 1987, an estimated $1.4 billion in grant money will be distributed to companies working on a wide range of technological proposals. The solicitations include such esoteric studies as "Design Concepts for Conventional Warheads for Anti-Air Guided Missiles," one of the Navy's 131 topics. Another Navy topic, "Photoeledrochemistry," calls for information on "the electrochemical behavior and stability of semiconductor materials in pho-toelectrochemical processes; techniques for preparing chemically modified photoelectrodes development of small, research and development'" oriented businesses by awarding to selected compa-' nies contracts that would ordinarily go to large com-" panies or to universities. 1 Small businesses, as defined by the are those that are independently owned and operat-' ed, and have fewer than 500 employees. Although the $1.4 billion figure is formidable, it represents only about 1 percent of the total research and development budgets.

Those agencies are: Department of Defense, Na-' tional Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Energy, National Science Foundation, Department of Agriculture, Department of Transportation, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Environmental Protection Agency, and Department of the Interior. Note: Figures are estimates of public and private short and long term external debt ptorrlani $8.2 ungary $73 cuadorl $6.3 Chicago Tribune Graphic; Sources: Organization tor Economic Cooperation and Development, Intitule tor international Economic Aseptic packaging gaining acceptance Today's report YORK (AP) Stock prices fell today, dep-itwaew government figures that confirmed the economy is on the mend, as interest rates continued to rise. More than four stocks declined in price for every three that rose in the midday tally of New York Stock Exchange-listed issues. -Analysts attributed some of the selling to traders Cashing in on last week's record-shattering rally. The Dow Jones average of 30 industrial stocks, down 9.12 points in the past two sessions after reaching an all-time high Thursday, fell another 6.01 points to 1,233.17 as of noon.

The blue-chip average had been up 1 point in the opening 30 minutes. interest rates also are on the rise, with yields on three-month Treasury bills climbing nearly one-half of percentage point since Thursday. The scheduled sale of $14.25 billion in Treasury notes and bonds this week is keeping pressure on interest rates in the bond market, where traders already are on edge because of the rapid growth of the money supply. The NYSE's composite index fell .40 to 97.56. At the American Stock Exchange, the market value index was down .38 at 482.33.

Pan American World Airways, the volume leader yesterday, topped the NYSE's active list again in the early going, down at 7, in trading that included a block of 309,000 shares changing hands at 8 a share. Superior Oil jumped 1 to 36 in trading that included a block of 410,000 shares crossing at 35. ntut Yesterday's Dow Jones NEW YORK (AP) Dow Jones closing stock By JOE SIMNACHER Dallas Morning News Independent Press Service DALLAS The successful introduction of Brik Pak packaging into the U.S. market has prompted the Dallas company to double the capacity of its $40 million plant under construction in Denton. "We just found out that the day the plant opens it will be too small," said H.F.

Kir-endorfer, Brik Pak president and chief executive officer. "We will double the capacity of the plant, but that will still not be enough." Brik Pak's aseptic packages allow normally perishable liquids such as milk and fruit juice to be stored for months at room temperature. After spending 6 years introducing its aseptic system to the United States, Brik Psk Li making money, Krichdorfer said. "We ve been able to establish a certain profitability, which we hadn't expected because of our start-up times," he said. "We were able last year to wipe out all our accumulated losses we had during the first five years waiting to go into business." The U.S.

market's voracious appetite for aseptic packaging has defied Kirchdorfer's best attempts to forecast business. Instead of replacing bottle or can sales, most of the aseptic packaging sales represent new business. "That's why its so tough to forecast," Kirchdorfer said. Though privately held Brik Pak does not disclose revenues or earnings, Kirchdorfer said sales should double in 1983 for the third year in a row to more than $100 million. Brik Pak is the U.S.

member of Tetra Pak, a family owned company based in Sweden. Tetra Pak's products, which first were available abroad, were introduced in the United States after Brik Pak's arrived in Dallas. Once in America, Kirchdorfer and his staff worked for five years to win Food and Drug Administration approval for the Tetra Pak system. Brik Pak's introduction to the U.S. market has been swift.

Borden Inc. purchased a Tetra Pak system in late 1981 capable of filling 4,500 packages an hour. "We're now up to four lines, said Betty Garrett, a Borden spokesman in Columbus, Ohio. "It's growing very fast." Two of Borden's aseptic packaging plants are in Sulphur Springs, Texas, northeast of Dallas. Demand for Borden's Sippin' Pak fruit drinks often has the plant operating two shifts a day, Garrett said.

Kirchdorfer expects to build a second U.S. plant, possibly in Virginia or in the Carolinas, that will double the capacity of U.S. operations. While Brik Pak's U.S. success has been largely the result of increased fruit drink sales, much of Tetra Pak's growth overseas was the result of packaging fresh milk for undeveloped nations, where refrigeration is scarce.

In the United States, Brik Pak hopes to cut retailer's storage and distribution costs of milk. "Brik Pak is going to be revolutionary as far as fluid milk is concerned," said Jack Evans, president of Odium which owns Tom Thumb stores. "I think you're going to see milk right off the shelf in stores in place of refrigerated milk." Evans thinks aseptic packaging for milk is similar to frozen foods in the early 1960s. Milk stored at room temperature will have to be phased in, as consumers accept the new technology. "It's not going to take the market by storm," Evans said.

"People have to gain confidence that it is equally good." Widespread introduction of milk in aseptic packaging is about five years away, Kir-: chdorfer said. "It will take another five years before we see white milk in larger numbers -on the shelf. Everywhere we've gone, it's taken about five years to do. Once you go beyond 2 percent or 3 percent market share, it starts to accelerate. "The only downside of it (aseptic packag-' ing) is that powdered milk came on the mar-' ket several years ago and never did get off the ground," Evans said.

Consumers haven't' been willing to mix powdered milk and let it sit before drinking he said. All Brik Pak milk lacks is refrigeration, he said. "I'm really convinced it's a product that's here to stay," Evans said. I Brik Pak no longer has the U.S. market to' itself.

Competitors are developing or import-'' ing aseptic packaging techniques. "I'm glad," Kirchdorfer said of the compel tition. "We have been carrying the load alone to inform the industry." 1 1239.18 or 0.24 percent 580.36 or 0.13 percent 128.09 or 0.79 percent 491.66 or 0.27 percent 30 Indus 20Trans 65Stocks Sales: 84,270,000 Area firms Mock note begins 'Dear Ara' Wwfonowini quotations are furnished by E. F. Hutton A Co.

and repre-seKrah indication of current market value at the dost of the UK trading EEC revives IBM case session and at 1 2: 1 5 today. Adam Drug AfelTel lank of NY Bankets Trust NY Beclon Dtckmsn NEW YOftK STOCK EXCHANGE Closing Cue- Ckwi, Cur- Price nrtOwet Price rentChanae 174 174 GE MVj 5i 63 -H E.F. Hutton 48H MVs -H 59 SVs IBM 122 121 45V. 45H) -re Irvine tank 4 49V. V.

49V. 48 Krochler 174 Vl SO 50 Marine Midland 27 17 54 54 Morton-Trnokol SO 50 NYStG 20 20 30 31 PepsiCo 35 35 37 37 Savin 8 8 24 24 Sinter 30 16 16 Union 6 tt tS USAir 37 31 AMERICAN STOCK EXCHANGE 18 18 Great Ames. Ind. 22 20 20 Roointech 5 5 -Vt OVER THE COUNTER AM IK AM Raymond 33 33 39V. Subaru 57 57 3 Victory 20 21 By KEVIN MANEY In David R.

Duncan's opinion, a chauffeur-driven Rolls Royce would be too generous an offer for the director of a community organization like Opportunities for Broome Inc. This month's issue of the Labor-Community Reporter, an OFB newspaper, includes a tongue-in-cheek letter from Duncan to Ara Kradjian, which Duncan says was never dropped in the mailbox. Duncan conceived of the fictional offers in response to the controversy over OFB using the same law firm as the Kradjian family to oppose the construction of a Marriott Hotel in downtown Binghamton. The Kradjians own the Holiday Inn-Arena and their case was dismissed two days after OFB announced it also was suing to block "Dear Ara," begins Duncan's "letter." Duncan listed four "offers" he'd have to turn down, including a Holiday Inn-Arena low bid to host OFB's annual dinner at $1.75 a person with "chamber orchestra or lobster. "The arrangement to provide a chauffeur-driven Rolls Royce to the OFB director at a cost of 20 cents per mile must be changed: "One, instead of a Rolls Royce, perhaps a Bentley would be just as good.

It has a Rolls motor and body but the grill is different and slightly cheaper," Duncan wrote. "Secondly, we should skip the uniform for the chauffeur, since it would be improper for him to be better dressed than the director." BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) The European Economic Commission said yesterday it intends to proceed with its antitrust case against International Business Machines Corp. and hopes to reach a final decision by late this year. "These things tend to drag on, but we're going to move according to a strict schedule," an official with the Competition Department said. He said hearings that lasted three days late last week broke little new ground in the dispute.

The commission holds that the computer giant abused its dominant position in the computer market to undermine smaller competitors. The meetings last Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were the final consultations between the two sides. The commission must now decide whether to uphold or modify its original charges, and a special committee of experts from the 10 EC countries will then comment on them. Ultimately, the commission leadership will have to make a ruling, which could include a fine and an order for IBM, based in Armonk, to halt business practices judged incompatible with EC competition rules. IBM will have the right to challenge the ruling, however.

"The fine would be a minor irritation for them," a commission source said. "What would hurt would be the requirement to change their ways." The commission, which opened its investigation of the company in 1974, has charged IBM made it possible for European customers to use other companies' software with IBM computers, yet refused to supply software for use with non-IBM computers. Chase Manhattan Chemical NY Columbia Gas Dover- Orion fklm Cora. CM -GaMett Crompion Prod. Fays Drugs GUddng Lincoln First Maple Press If you have a story idea, question or com mnnt roaanimv business news, call Busi ness Editor Charles Babcock at 798-1152 8 a.m.

and 3 p.m. .1 1' 41. IT.