EsThe approach of the annual Thanksgiving holiday normally heralds the peak shopping season through Black Friday and Cyber Monday, though it also brings its own shopping opportunities including imported decorations and cooking equipment.
Panjiva data shows there has been an 11.3% year over year drop in imports of “Thanksgiving” related merchandise in the five months to Oct. 31 – the normal shipping period for such products. That includes a switch away from imports specifically from China which represented 75.6% of the total a year earlier. This year the ratio from China has dropped to 67.2%.
Instead there’s been a marked switch to sourcing from Hong Kong, which has a preferential tariff regime. Leading importers include Dollarama and Beall’s as well as specialty party stores.
Tariffs may only have had a marginal effect – tariffs on seasonal crockery had started from September as part of the list 4A regime, while decorations are only subject to tariffs from Dec. 15 under list 4B. The switch may have come in anticipation of tariffs though given the split in list 4 products only occurred in August, as outlined in Panjiva’s research of Nov. 12.
Source: Panjiva
Traditional turkey frying may remain popular, though health considerations are leading to more purchases of airfry systems and fewer frying systems overall. Again the issue of tariffs is complicating matters as food fryers are split between two categories – HS-8517.60 has been eligible for tariffs since Sept. 2018 under list 3 tariffs, while HS-8517.69 is only eligible as part of the list 4B. The scale of systems is one consideration for the split.
Seaborne imports of fryers from China represented 83.9% of the total in the three months to Oct. 31. While there was a 4.0% year over year increase in shipments from China in 3Q, that reversed to a 12.5% slide in October.
Total imports also fell by 13.5%, which would suggest that total demand for frying systems has fallen. Leading importers include retailers such as Best Buy and JC Penney as well as industrial buyers such as Atosa Catering.
Source: Panjiva
