For the past 35 years, China has grabbed nearly the entire U.S. market — with 98 to 99 percent of what consumers will buy this year being made there, as
well as 75 percent of the “display” fireworks, which are used in big, public shows.
Fireworks are a big business, with $675 million in sales just to consumers who will shoot off their own products expected this year, said Julie Heckman, the
American Pyrotechnics Association’s executive director. Chinese imports are necessary, she said, because it’s “very, very labor-intensive to make
fireworks. Basically everything is still made by hand.”
Environmental and safety regulations in the United States, she said, would force domestically made versions of the same fireworks to retail for 10 times as
much as the Chinese imports, she estimated.The industry has worked hand in hand with China, and many of these relationships go back four, five, six generations, much like the generational family businesses in the United States.
And the situation won’t be changing anytime soon, fireworks industry experts said.
On Independence Day, celebrations across the United States depend on China.