U.S. Tariffs Affecting 3D Filament Prices?

Have you seen an increase in your 3D Printer filament prices due to the new U.S. Tariffs?

 A large portion of 3D printing supplies that come into the U.S. are from China. This is especially true of PLA and ABS filament, which feature prominently in lists of imports. The 25% duty on imports on raw polymers and mono-filaments could affect the 3D printing industry in the long run.

 While this round of tariffs has been bullish on many Chinese electronics and parts, they’ve also wedged in a lot of plastics. The list also includes raw polymer imports, which is bad news for manufacturers of filaments in the US in case they thought they were safe. Many of them may not bring in full filaments, but they might still use Chinese raw materials. The US tariffs might be shaking up the production chains of a lot of other industries as well, considering how vague they are.

The Chinese market has been stable in terms of price for a while now. Now that the tariffs have gone into effect, that may change. What we cannot predict is the effect on the average consumer prices. The exact effect of tariffs on the average user can be very difficult to predict as companies might find alternative markets or burden a bit of the costs to mitigate price increases in the short run.

Obviously, it is still too early to tell what the affect may be, but we should have an answer in the first quarter of 2019.