Despite painful new tariffs pinching profits, American importers are finding it very difficult to shift sourcing operations away from China.
Ian W. Moores, general counsel at U.S. seafood firm FW Bryce, Inc. told SeafoodSource the company would continue to source from China, even with the 10 percent tariffs placed by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump on imported Chinese seafood products in 2018.
“Our company has not changed purchase strategy … The China offerings are very difficult to replace,” Moores said. “China seafood has been imported for so long, and during so many U.S. regulatory evolutions like HACCP, FDA FSMA, and NOAA’s SIMP, and with considerable customer acceptance of China products, and with extensive China government industry food safety oversight, that interchangeable alternative country sources would require extensive, and time-consuming, re-engineering of an importer's sourcing strategy.”
Moores said he’s does not know the extent to which importers have been able to pass the 10 percent tariff along to customers.
“Importers' options are to absorb the added 10 percent or pass along to customers; or to adjust purchase price by re-negotiating with China processors,” he said.
China exported USD 2.7 billion (EUR 2.4 billion) worth of seafood to the U.S. in 2017. Moores said his company hasn’t lost any customers since the tariffs went into effect.
“We have experienced no customer order cancellation or adjustment. I do not know if our experience is similar to other importers,” Moores said. “We have shared with our customers our understanding of the tariffs and their impacts, so as to assure our customers' accurate knowledge-set.”
