As global seafood suppliers grapple with the potential impacts of threatened tariffs on grocery and restaurant sales, overarching consumer concerns are likely to end up having a greater impact on U.S. shopper spending.
“People focus on whether the tariff is 25 percent or 15 percent, but I think the bigger question is whether this is going to pull back a consumer that has been really strong for a very long time, and the same thing for business confidence,” Circana Executive Vice President Perimeter Practice Leader Chris DuBois told SeafoodSource at the Circana Growth Summit, which ran from 7 to 9 April in Orlando, Florida. “If you see big prices moving in the store, hold on.”
When prices began rising in 2022, consumers pulled back their spending, and if prices shift again that trend could reignite.
“If we see higher food prices in the food store again, I think you’re going to see the consumer pull back in a really big way,” DuBois said.
While declining to comment on the impact of specific tariffs – particularly since they are in flux nearly daily – DuBois acknowledged that they could “do a number” on some seafood species, while there will be substitutes for others.
“No one knows how much was in deep cold storage and for how long, so it’s hard to project gloominess and monster numbers because so much is unknown,” DuBois said.
If tariffs on seafood go into effect, seafood volume could be challenged this year, DuBois said...
