Coronavirus Impact On Imports Bigger Than Expected

The financial impact of the novel coronavirus outbreak will be felt in waves, with an early ripple coming not from people getting ill in the United States but from what has already happened in China. One of the first effects has been that some goods at retail chains like Walmart (NYSE: WMT) and Target (NYSE: TGT), as well as online e-commerce giant Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), may not be available due to factory shutdowns in China.

Some companies, including Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), have already issued warnings about shortfalls (and their impact on revenue), while others have found alternate suppliers and/or hope to make the sales up on in-stock items. These supply chain shortages are "expected to have a longer and larger impact on imports at major U.S. retail container ports than previously believed as factory shutdowns and travel restrictions in China continue to affect production," according to the Global Port Tracker report released Tuesday by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Hackett Associates.

Fewer shipping containers are expected in March and April compared to 2019. Image souce: Getty Images.

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Source Fool.com