New pandemic-related shortage could have big impact on July 4th celebrations

Yet another pandemic-related shortage has emerged and this one may leave the skies a little less colorful this holiday weekend. 

Fireworks distributors around the country are reporting a shortage in the products they have to offer. 

Last year, personal fireworks sales surged to record highs nationally after many communities canceled or postponed public fireworks displays during the pandemic, according to USA Today. 

That increase in sales is just one of the factors that led to a shortage in fireworks this year, said Drew Saikin, owner of Fireworks Now in New Oxford. 

"There are a lot of opinions as to why it's happening," he said. "Last year, there was a significant increase of fireworks sales and a lot of people set off fireworks because they couldn't go to shows."

Other factors, Saikin said, include shipment delays, limited space available for shipping fireworks and factories shutting down during the pandemic, leading to lower-than-usual manufacturing of fireworks. 

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Phantom Fireworks, the nation's largest consumer-based retail fireworks company, is urging customers to shop early as the industry faces a potential shortage for the second year in a row.

Bill Hunt, manager of the Phantom Fireworks store of Shrewsbury, said his store did prepare and doubled their order of fireworks for this year, but shipping delays have left them short of what they planned to have in stock going into the holiday weekend. 

"People couldn't go to the beach or the movies, so they couldn't spend their money on other things, but fireworks were available and we got an overwhelming amount of customers last year because of that," Hunt said. "With fireworks, you have to order a year in advance, so we ordered double the amount for this year, based on last year's experience, and we're already seeing higher sales volumes than last year."

Big Fireworks, a chain store with a location in Glen Rock, has a warning posted on its website that there is an "extreme shortage of consumer fireworks" this year due to lack of cargo from China and United States shipping delays.

This, the message read, has caused Big Fireworks to make changes to its selling policies and consumers are encouraged to contact their local dealer before making any purchases online. 

Saikin said that the cost of freight from China has gone up 150 percent, which has caused him to increase prices on his products. Hunt said Phantom has increased prices 10-20 percent, as well. 

"I can't do buy-one-get-two-free like I have in the past, and the people who wait last-minute to buy fireworks won't find items they want," Saikin said, as he sold the last two packs of fuse he had available. Fuse is used to string smaller fireworks together to create a larger explosion or chain reaction. "Fuse is impossible to find. Big mortar fireworks are in short supply, and people are noticing."

Hunt said Phantom doesn't have any fuse available and that most stores in the area are sold out or will be soon. 

Both he and Saikin said that distributors knew this was coming for months and that they are already being asked to place orders from manufacturing factories for next summer, indicating a long-term problem.

"This was just a perfect storm of circumstances," Hunt said.