New York (AP) – in Fishtown Seafood, owner Bryan Szeliga is concerned about sea gocs.
Szeliga, who operates three retail and wholesale places in Philadelphia and Haddonfield, one, sells a variety of seafood. But the slow, slow seafood are most of his general business. And 60% to 70% come from Canada.
Trump administration fees, again 25% for imports from Canada-which entered into force on Tuesday just to be suspended Some items for a month on Thursday – are giving Whiplash Szeliga. Rolling is making it difficult to plan ahead. And if tariffs eventually come into force, he is likely to need to raise prices and offer his customers less seafood.
“Part of the problem of” chaos and shock and fear “approach to the negotiations is that you cannot actually be a business plan based on knowing what it is and will not actually happen,” he said. “This is a big problem.”
Szeliga started Fishtown seafood four years ago after other food industry work, including chef and working for a nonprofit. His clients include neighborhood locals and others who bought in their retail stores as well as wholesale restaurant customers.
He derives some of his American products directly from fish farms, but for Canadian sea oysters he goes through traders.
“They are the largest companies that accumulate from all manufacturers (seafood) and then and then scatter all over the country,” he said.
There is also a qualitative consideration.
“Canadian osters simply have the size, fragrance profile and brand recognition that our customers prefer and have grown to love,” he said.
Attempting to plan
On Tuesday, most of his suppliers told Szeliga that they would raise prices. He made only one purchase while the fee was in effect, buying some “sweet” sea goca from Prince Edward Island to make sure a wholesale client had enough product. He himself paid 25% to the marking and did not spend his client, eating the extra cost. The increase in prices of suppliers is likely to deduct now that the tariffs will be postponed, but only for one month.
Now that he has a month of return, Szeliga said he plans to fix his inventory and work with his wholesale customers to plan a menu that will be affected less from the tariffs. This may mean replacing the highest prices, with higher quality with Canadian home offer or lower prices.
“Now that we have a picture of what this will look like, let’s just start designing your menus so that we are prepared and is not full of bed again,” he said. “Even if prices fall, we know that prices will come to X, Y, Z (when the fees return).” He said he will ask his customers, “Which products will work for you within a month?”
A blow to the growing sea market
Szeliga is not just about his concerns – the whole sea market can be affected.
The total value of the seafood imported in the SH.BA in 2023 was $ 25.5 billion. Canada, as the largest supplier, delivered more than $ 3.6 billion in the United States in the United States in 2023. Seafood imports from Canada to SH.BA increased 10% in 2024 to $ 3.96 billion, according to USDA.
While the sea oysters are only part of this – the most popular sea foods remain shrimp, salmon and tone – the demand of the sea is growing. In 2022 the sea goggles joined Top 10 list of National Fisheries Institute for the first time ever.
Szeliga has watched as popularity would say more and more restaurants, began to offer the bivalve on their menus began only. He worries that the growth will now “fade and fade”.
“I think I will really remove momentum from what is a growth industry,” he said.
Limiting the choice, the rise of prices
Szeliga said he is likely to limit the number of seafood he carries in his store from 12 to about 10 to make sure he can still offer a range of higher and lower price gamps that his customers want, even if he no longer carries the most expensive options.
The transition to the sea grooves harvested only in the JBA is not an option, because although there are numerous species of seafood off the US coast, most seafood in the US is imported. Canada is the largest seafood supplier in the SH.BA that is difficult to match.
“For homemade sea oysters production is pretty grown now,” he said. “Osters may take several years to grow and make it on the market, so that a farmer needs to make a business selection a few years ago to grow their business to be in a good position now to fully benefit from this situation.”
Szeliga worries that Canadian manufacturers can begin to limit what they sell in the US market after confusion of tariffs.
So, after all, its clients have to expect less seafood choice, and for a higher price as not all prices will return after they are recorded.
“Some products that were really” worth “buying in the past. I think those suppliers forced them to understand they had value,” he said. “And I think there will be products that will not go down (priced),” he said.