Friday, July 23, 2004<br /><br />Yamaha jacks up prices paid by Mercury<br /><br />Yamaha Motor Co. Ltd. said today it will significantly raise the prices of the F75, F90 and F115 4-stroke powerheads it sells to Brunswick Corp. for use in its Mercury outboard engines.<br /><br />The action comes at a time when, Yamaha says, Brunswick is trying to increase its purchases of Yamaha powerheads.<br /><br />Brunswick this morning had no immediate comment.<br /><br />These prices are part of Yamahas ongoing efforts to restructure its prices in Japan and the United States to meet the requirements of the current business climate, Phil Dyskow, president of the Yamaha Marine Group, said in a statement. Yamaha is required to increase these prices in order to protect its commercial position in the United States.<br /><br />In a petition filed last January with the U.S. Department of Commerce and the International Trade Commission, Brunswick subsidiary Mercury Marine accuses Japanese outboard manufacturers of violating anti-dumping laws here. Yamaha has repeatedly denied those allegations, but said earlier this week it expects the Department of Commerce will issue a finding of pricing discrepancies between outboards in the United States and Japan. That decision is likely to come next month.<br /><br />Dyskow has said those expected findings are based on apples to oranges comparisons, but that Yamaha is taking steps to avoid the imposition of anti-dumping duties. These include a 3- to 4-percent increase in U.S. prices for model year 2005; price decreases in Japan; and a small change in the distribution in Japan to eliminate the complicated overhead structure.<br /><br />Dyskow emphasized in todays statement that Yamaha is not raising the prices of Yamaha brand outboards sold to customers in the United States.<br /><br />This increase only applies to the sale of the specified powerheads to Brunswick, said Dyskow. He declined to reveal the amount of the increase.<br /><br />In a telephone interview this morning, Dyskow said he found it curious that Brunswick appears to be increasing its orders to Yamaha, despite the anti-dumping petition and the release of Mercurys new Verado 4-stroke engines.<br /><br />It is my understanding that since the ITC filing, Brunswick has attempted to increase its orders of 4-stroke midrange powerheads from Yamaha, said Dyskow. It is my understanding that theyve also attempted to extend the term of the 4-stroke midrange powerhead agreement with Yamaha. I also understand that they have ordered additional versions EFI of the midrange 4-stroke powerheads that [the company] previously had declined to order. It is also my understanding that theyve placed orders for additional F225 outboards after a previous request that the F225 contract be terminated.
