America’s Fourth of July celebrations are going to be a much quieter affair this year as states battle to contain a major resurgence of the coronavirus pandemic. Even though many cities have scrapped their fireworks displays, some shows are still taking place, though they will mostly involve high-altitude pyrotechnics best viewed from a distance. Last year, the National Retail Federation found that 40% of Americans planned to attend a fireworks display as part of their Fourth of July itinerary and that has slumped to 24% for 2020. Despite the toned-down celebrations, the U.S. still imported a huge quantity of fireworks through April of this year – 40,700 tons worth $100 million.
According to WorldCity, it also launched a review of major U.S. pyrotechnics trading partners. In 2019. The U.S. fireworks industry relies heavily on China, as imports have far outperformed domestic production. While the Trump administration industry’s war with Beijing has caused widespread fear in the U.S. fireworks industry, it seems that China’s pyrotechnic imports have largely escaped their impact. In 2019, China blamed 95% of all bottled rockets, Roman sails and other pyrotechnic products brought to the country. They were valued at $336 million and had a total weight of 129,000 tons.
Spain and Hong Kong were the second-biggest source of U.S. fireworks imports in 2019 with a 1.4% share of the total. Germany came fourth with 1.3% while Thailand rounded off the top-five with 0.5%. The port of Los Angeles handled the bulk of America’s pyrotechnic imports last year at 36% while Long Beach took in 25% and Newark handled 17%. Interestingly, one Chinese businessman is behind the vast Sino-U.S. pyrotechnics trade. Ding Yan Zhong, also known as “Mr. Ding”, is believed to control 70% of pyrotechnics entering the U.S. and it has been reported that 72 of his containers enter the country on a daily basis.
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I am a journalist of knowledge of Statista, covering visual representation of technological, social and media issues. In fact, I like to write about all the existing topics,
I am a journalist of knowledge of Statista, covering technological, social and media issues through visual representation. In fact, I like to write about all trending topics, illustrating patterns and trends in a fast, transparent and meaningful way. Our paintings in Statista have appeared in publications such as Mashable, Wall Street Journal and Business Insider.