JAPAN MOVES TO TIGHTEN CHIP-EXPORT CURBS

  The Ministry of International Trade and
  Industry (MITI) acted to tighten restrictions on microchip
  exports to countries other than the U.S. To preserve a
  U.S.-Japan pact on semiconductor trade, but major Japanese
  chipmakers doubt its usefulness.
      A MITI spokesman said his ministry had asked chipmakers to
  issue certificates to specified trading houses stating they are
  authorised exporters.
      Trading houses applying for a MITI export licence will be
  required to show such a certificate, but those without it will
  not automatically be denied licences, he said.
      But some industry officials predicted any government
  measures were likely to have limited effect as long as the
  world semiconductor market remained weak.
      U.S. Government and industry officials have complained
  repeatedly that Japanese chipmakers continue to sell at below
  cost to third countries despite the July agreement.
      Japanese firms and officials in turn argue the flow of
  cheap chips to third countries is due to grey-market sales by
  third-party brokers, who seek to profit from the gap between
  low prices in Japan and higher prices based on production costs
  and set for Japanese makers under the agreement.
      The MITI spokesman said, "If the percentage of grey market
  is increasing for one specific company, it suggests they are
  distributing their products through their sales network knowing
  they will be exported by some means. In that case we will ask
  them what they are doing to reduce the figure."
      MITI earlier asked makers to cut output of certain chips by
  10 pct in first-quarter 1987, spokesmen for the firms said.
      But they doubt the usefulness of the latest move. "As long
  as there is a gap between prices set under the pact and market
  prices, there will be people who want to exploit the gap to
  make money," a Hitachi Ltd &lt;HIT.T> spokesman said.
  

