Tariffs Sent China’s Share of October TV Imports Plunging to 27.6%, Says DataWeb
TV imports to the U.S. became a much more Mexican-centric business in October, the second full month of 15 percent Section 301 List 4A tariff exposure for finished sets from China, according to Census Bureau statistics released Thursday and accessed through the International Trade Commission’s DataWeb tool. More than two-thirds of October’s TV unit imports to the U.S. came from Mexico, while China’s share plummeted to half its October 2018 level, said DataWeb.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Export Compliance Daily combines U.S. export control news, foreign border import regulation and policy developments into a single daily information service that reliably informs its trade professional readers about important current issues affecting their operations.
All countries shipped 4.7 million TVs to the U.S. in October, a 20.9 percent increase sequentially from September, but 28.8 percent fewer than the 6.6 million sets imported in October 2018, said DataWeb. October TV imports from Mexico grew 23.7 percent from September to 3.2 million sets, and were up 23 percent from the 2.6 million units shipped from Mexico in the same month a year earlier.
Mexico’s October share of all TV imports was 67.9 percent, a 1.5-point increase from September, and up a striking 28.5 points from its 39.4 percent October 2018 share, said DataWeb. China by comparison was 27.6 percent of October TV imports, down sequentially from September by the same 1.5 points of share that Mexico gained.
October Chinese TV imports rose 13.9 percent sequentially from September to 1.3 million sets, but were down 64.6 percent from the 3.7 million TVs China shipped to the U.S. in October 2018 when its share was 55.6 percent, said DataWeb. China was 39.7 percent of TV imports as recently as August, the last full month before the List 4A tariffs took effect.
With October’s increasing shift to Mexico in the TV supply chain came rising commoditization in TV imports, said DataWeb. The average Mexican set was worth $382.87 in October customs value, down 3.9 percent sequentially from September and a 14.4 percent decline from October 2018. Chinese TV imports averaged $173.11 in October customs value, a stunning 56.5 percent sequential decline from September and down 9.4 percent from October 2018.
CED estimates from the DataWeb numbers that U.S. interests faced $33.8 billion in October tariff exposure from the $225.2 million worth of finished sets they imported from China. We also estimate their total exposure was $68.2 million in the two months since the 15 percent tariffs took effect Sept. 1 on Chinese TV imports. The tariffs added just under $26 to the cost of the average TV imported from China in October. That’s down from the $60 added cost in the average Chinese set in September, as the TV sourcing that remained in China took a sharp single-month turn toward entry-level product.