Hedstrom Corporation
Bedford, Pennsylvania 15522
March 31, 2003

Honorable Phillip M. Crane, Chairman
Subcommittee on Trade
Committee on Ways and Means
U.S. House of Representatives
1102 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Representative Crane:

Hedstrom Corporation is a manufacturer of gym sets and trampolines sold through mass merchants for resale to consumers.  We are one of the largest employers in Bedford County, Pennsylvania.  And, believe we are a very important party of the local economy.  The imposition of 201 duties has been crippling to our business.  In 2002 we incurred a cost increase of over $1.8 million compared with our cost for steel in 2001.  For the first Quarter of 2003 alone we will incur a cost increase of over $1.1 million over the prior year.  We have worked hard to find alternate domestic sources for steel, but have suffered these dramatic increases despite those efforts.

In addition to our strenuous efforts to source steel at the best prices possible, we have invested heavily in our business to improve efficiencies and reduce costs.  We believe we are a low cost manufacturer and can be competitive against foreign manufacturers, except for our steel costs resulting from the 201 duties.  As you can imagine, increases of this magnitude are threatening our continued ability to manufacture our products domestically.  We are not able to pass these cost increases along to our mass merchant retailers.  For example, Wal-Mart, our largest customer, purchased 50,000 trampolines from China last fall and is considering another 100,000 Chinese trampolines this coming fall, at a lower price than ours. 

Sincerely,

Craig S. Marton
Vice President & General Manager