Layoffs hit, prices lag as tariff pinches U.S. lobster sector

PORTLAND, Maine — The American lobster industry is starting to feel the pinch of China’s tariff on U.S. seafood as exporters and dealers cope with sagging prices, new financial pressures and difficulty sending lobsters overseas.

China is a major buyer of lobsters, and it imposed a heavy tariff on exports from the U.S. in July amid trade hostilities between the two superpowers. Exporters in the U.S. said their business in China has dried up since then.

Wholesale prices for live lobsters have also dipped as dealers have lost markets. Prices in July and August were both slightly less than the same month in the previous year, business publisher Urner Barry reported.

One exporter, The Lobster Co. of Arundel, Maine, resorted to laying off four people, which constituted 25 per cent of its wholesale staff, said owner Stephanie Nadeau. “I can cut my variable costs and tuck my head in and see if this storm passes,” she said. “What they’ve done is made it so everybody is fighting over the remaining customers. Price goes down, margins go down.”

China applied the tariffs to a suite of American seafood products, including tuna and crab. It made the move at a time when many Chinese are acquiring a taste for American lobster. China’s American lobster imports grew from $108.3 million in 2016 to $142.4 million last year.