Want your favorite fireworks? Experts say buy early in Sacramento area amid short supply

Amid the worst of the coronavirus pandemic last year, Ohio-based Phantom Fireworks and California-based TNT Fireworks’ saw their sales skyrocket. This year, the pandemic caused a shortage of fireworks. With Independence Day less than two weeks away, consumers are advised to collect their spark-makers before they sell out.

According to Bill Weimer, the vice president of Phantom Fireworks, the fireworks industry faces a logistics issue that starts with acquiring supply from China. He said there’s a lack of containers, little space on container ships and crowded ports, making it difficult to get fireworks to the market.

“The containers are clogged up on the land and the ports before they’re sent out to the rail and to the trucks,” Weimer said. “All this has combined to provide a shortage of fireworks to the United States.”

Typically, ships arrive at a port, the product is offloaded and transported to warehouses. Now, California’s ports are backed up with lines of ships waiting to dock.

“There’s a shortage of dockworkers and that obviously started when we were in the throes of the pandemic, not that we’re out of it yet,” Weimer said. “Probably the same experience happened in China ... so the efficiency of the ports is down.”

Dennis Revell, a spokesman for TNT Fireworks, also attributes the shift of consumer habits during the COVID-19 lockdown as a factor in the shortage. He said consumers’ increase in personal spending resulted in a spike in imports that overwhelmed California’s ports.

“With the glut of the new components for consumer products, retailers here in the U.S. placed massive orders for products from China which created a surge of exports, disruptions at the ports, crate container shortages,” Weimer said.

As a result, suppliers and consumers alike worry that seasonal products including fireworks won’t make it on shelves in time.

To match the demand for fireworks last year, Phantom Fireworks ordered more than a year’s supply of products from China in the fall of 2020. Now, the company doesn’t expect to receive more than 70% of what it ordered.

“Product level-wise we’re probably going to be at 2019 level, so it won’t be what people were used to in 2020 but it won’t be as severe as some might fear,” Revell said.

With a higher shipping cost and a cost increase per container, Weimer said some products cost more to ship than to buy. As a result, Phantom Fireworks’ products are expected to cost more than last year.

With firework sales in California running from June 28 through July 6, Weimer said he advises consumers to shop early because a full selection isn’t likely by the end of the season.

In addition to the fear of a firework shortage, California also works to keep illegal firework activity at bay. To curb the use of illegal fireworks in Sacramento, residents are encouraged to use the app Nail ’em to report illegal activity in their area.

Fireworks are sold by nonprofits on a consignment basis in the state of California and products that aren’t sold are returned to wholesalers until the next season. Last year, a majority of fireworks were sold.

As a result, California will enter a fireworks season without an overflow of last year’s products, an influx of early orders from fireworks companies and a demand for consumer products fighting to get out of Asia.

“Yes, we’ll see some product limitations and that’s why we’re encouraging customers to buy their fireworks early to ensure the best product selection they can,” Revell said. “But I’m confident that it will not be as severe as one time was believed to be the case.”

This story was originally published June 23, 2021 at 7:45 AM.