At Fishtown Seafood, proprietor Bryan Szeliga is anxious concerning the oysters.
Szeliga, who operates three retail and wholesale places in Philadelphia and Haddonfield, N.J., sells a variety of seafood. However briny, slurpable oysters are the most important a part of his general enterprise. And 60% to 70% come from Canada.
The Trump’s administration’s on-again, off-again 25% tariffs on imports from Canada — which went into impact on Tuesday solely to be suspended on some gadgets for a month on Thursday — are giving Szeliga whiplash. The flip-flopping is making it robust to plan forward. And if the tariffs do finally go into impact, he’ll doubtless want to lift costs and provide his prospects fewer selections of oysters.
“Part of the problem of the ‘chaos and shock and awe’ approach to the negotiation is you can’t actually really business plan based on knowing what is and isn’t actually going to happen,” he stated. “That’s a big problem.”
Szeliga began Fishtown Seafood 4 years in the past after different jobs within the meals business together with chef and dealing for a nonprofit. His prospects embody neighborhood locals and others who store at his retail retailers in addition to restaurant wholesale shoppers.
He sources a few of his U.S. merchandise instantly from fish farms however for Canadian oysters he goes by means of sellers.
“They’re larger companies that aggregate from all the (seafood) producers and then and then distribute throughout the country,” he stated.
There’s additionally a high quality consideration.
“Canadian oysters simply have the size, flavor profile, and brand recognition that our customers prefer and have grown to love,” he stated.
Attempting to plan
On Tuesday, most of his suppliers instructed Szeliga they’d be elevating costs. He solely made one buy whereas the tariff was in impact, shopping for some “sweet petite” oysters from Prince Edward Island, to ensure a wholesale consumer had sufficient product. He paid the entire 25% markup himself and did not cross it alongside to his consumer, consuming the additional value. The suppliers’ worth will increase are more likely to come down now that the tariffs are postponed, however just for a month.
Now that he has a month reprieve, Szeliga stated he plans to regulate his personal stock and work along with his wholesale shoppers to plan out a menu that will probably be much less affected by the tariffs. Which may imply changing higher-priced, higher-quality oysters with home or lower-priced Canadian choices.
“Now that we have a picture of what this is probably going to look like, let’s just start designing out your menus so that we’re prepared and it’s not complete bedlam again,” he said. “Even if prices come down, we know prices are going to come up to X, Y, Z (when the tariffs return).” He said he’ll be asking his clients, “What products are going to work for you in a month?”
A blow to the burgeoning oyster market
Szeliga isn’t alone along with his considerations – the complete oyster market could possibly be affected.
The full worth of U.S. imported seafood in 2023 was $25.5 billion. Canada, as the most important provider, delivered greater than $3.6 billion in seafood merchandise to america in 2023. Imports of seafood from Canada into the U.S. rose 10% in 2024 to $3.96 billion, in response to the USDA.
Whereas oysters are only a fraction of that – the preferred seafood stays shrimp, salmon and tuna – oyster demand has been rising. In 2022, oysters joined the Nationwide Fisheries Institute High 10 Listing for the primary time ever.
Szeliga has watched as the recognition meant increasingly more eating places, past simply oyster bars, started providing the bivalve on their menus. He worries that development will now “fade and fizzle.”
“I think it’s really going to take the momentum out of what is a growth industry,” he stated.
Limiting selection, elevating costs
Szeliga stated he’ll doubtless restrict the variety of oysters he carries in his store from 12 to about 10 to ensure he can nonetheless provide a variety of upper and lower cost oysters that his prospects need, even when he now not carries the most costly choices.
Switching to oysters harvested solely within the U.S. isn’t an possibility, as a result of though there are quite a few kinds of oysters out there on U.S. coasts, the vast majority of U.S. seafood is imported. Canada is the most important provider of seafood to the U.S. That’s exhausting to match.
“For domestic oysters the production is pretty maxed out right now,” he stated. “Oysters can take several years to grow and make it to market so a farmer would have needed to make a business selection several years ago to grow their business to be in a good position right now to take full advantage of this situation.”
Szeliga worries that Canadian producers would possibly begin limiting what they promote to the U.S. market after the tariff confusion.
So finally, his prospects ought to count on much less selection of oysters, and for the next worth since not all costs will come again down after they have been marked up.
“Some products that were really ‘value’ purchases in the past. I think those suppliers, it forced them to realize they were value,” he stated. “And I think there are going to be products that aren’t going to come back down (price-wise),” he stated.
