BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — The cost of your favorite seafood dishes could soon increase as new tariffs on imported seafood begin to impact prices at local grocery stores and companies.
With approximately 80% of seafood consumed in the United States coming from overseas, industry experts say price increases are inevitable and could begin appearing as early as August. They also say many people don't think about where their seafood is coming from.
"It's all over the world. That's the crazy thing I don't think people realize," explained Jamie Bouchard, the Director of Seafood Merchandising for Tops stores. He's anticipating the tariffs could have a million-dollar impact on their business.
Ty Pazian owns Sustainable Healthy Seafood in Holland, New York with his wife Jessica. They sell directly to customers through their storefront and also supply food service distributors and retailers.
"Importing is hands down the largest part of our business - it represents nearly $18 million worth of revenue annually," Pazian said. "Cod, haddock, ocean perch, we do a lot with snow crab, importing from Canada, Iceland, Greenland, Norway, China, Vietnam and Indonesia," he explained.
The tariffs may not only change prices but could also shift where seafood is sourced from. Tops currently sources shrimp from several countries, some facing tariffs around 20%. Bouchard indicated they're already looking for better deals.
"Ecuador came out at 10% - and everybody in the US as far as retailer - that's all they were talking about. We all tried to move to Ecuador as fast as possible," he explained.
Consumers may see changes reflected in prices soon.
"You're going to start seeing some pricing increases as we move into August. You'll see some of those prices going up," Bouchard said.
Tops stores are currently discussing how to handle these increases, but the company has taken proactive measures by purchasing inventory before the tariffs took effect.
"We invested. I will tell you that. Tops invested heavily in the market - to make sure we had some really aggressive prices this past month," Bouchard said.
Pazian says he's taken similar steps to mitigate immediate price increases.
"Right now we're planning for quarter 1 of 2026. So we look really far ahead. We have a significant amount of storage here. We're able to buy products and bring them into Holland New York before the duties were a factor - can have great prices for customers," he said.
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