The Charcoal on That Truck Costs More to Import, More to Buy, and Is Headed to a Cookout That Runs 13% Higher Than Last Year. Here Is What That Tells You About the Consumer Right Now.

Pull up the import data on U. S. charcoal briquette shipments and you are looking at something that some people in trucking would not think to check heading into a holiday weekend.

But that data, read against the consumer spending picture for Memorial Day 2026, tells you something specific about the supply chain, the retail freight market, and the household budget that is generating the loads moving this week. The short version: charcoal shipments into the U. S. surged 95% year over year in the trailing twelve months ending May 2025.

The product costs more to import than it did two years ago. The tariff environment has disrupted the supply chain of the countries that produce it. And the consumers who will burn it this weekend are paying 13% more for everything else on the table — which means the cookout is happening, but it is being funded differently than it was in 2023 or 2024.

The Import Shipment Data Start with what the trade data actually shows. According to Volza’s charcoal briquette import tracking, U. S. buyers imported 403 shipments of charcoal briquettes in the twelve months ending May 2025 — a 95% increase compared to the prior twelve-month period.

That near-doubling of import shipment count reflects two things happening simultaneously: genuine demand recovery as the post-pandemic grilling market normalized, and front-loading behavior as importers anticipated tariff escalation and pulled inventory forward before new duties locked in.

Indonesia, Paraguay, and Singapore were the top three source countries for those shipments. window. googletag = window. googletag || {cmd: []}; googletag. cmd. push(function() {googletag. defineSlot('/21776187881/FW-Responsive-Main_Content-Slot1', [[300, 100], [320, 50], [728, 90], [468, 60]], 'div-gpt-ad-1709668545404-0'). defineSizeMapping(gptSizeMaps.

banner1). addService(googletag. pubads()); googletag. pubads(). enableSingleRequest(); googletag. pubads(). collapseEmptyDivs(); googletag. enableServices(); }); googletag. cmd. push(function() {googletag. display('div-gpt-ad-1709668545404-0'); }); Global wood charcoal exports reached $1. 53 billion in 2024 according to ITC Trade Map data — up 16% from $1.

32 billion in 2020, but down 3. 9% from the 2023 peak of $1. 59 billion. The five largest exporters by revenue in 2024 were Indonesia, Laos, Vietnam, the Philippines, and mainland China, which together captured 46. 4% of global charcoal export revenues.

The United States sits in the second tier of global importers by value, alongside Saudi Arabia, Germany, and the UK — with the first tier dominated by China, Japan, and South Korea absorbing the highest dollar values.

The average import price for charcoal fell to $526 per ton in 2024 — a meaningful correction from the elevated price levels of 2022 and 2023, when supply chain disruptions and logistical cost spikes pushed import prices to their recent highs.

That price correction is what enabled the 95% surge in import shipment volumes: lower per-unit cost made volume purchases more attractive for U. S. importers building inventory ahead of the 2025 and 2026 grilling seasons. Source: SONAR. NTID. USA.

Spot rates are officially in COVID level territory as they soared to a new cycle high heading into the holiday weekend. The Tariff Disruption That Is Already in the Supply Chain Here is where the 2026 picture moves sharply from 2024 and 2025, and also where the freight implications become specific.

Indonesia is the dominant global charcoal exporter and one of the primary sources of the premium lump charcoal that has grown in market share at U. S. retail.

In April 2025, the Trump administration imposed a 32% import tariff on Indonesian goods as part of the reciprocal tariff package which is up from prior rates that ranged from 0% to 5% depending on product category. That tariff did not immediately end Indonesian charcoal imports to the U. S.

, but it materially increased their landed cost and created sourcing uncertainty that has driven U. S. importers to evaluate alternative suppliers. The U. S. -China tariff situation adds another layer. Charcoal imports from China, which supplies both finished product and production inputs, fell into the disrupted trade pattern that saw U. S.

imports from China trend 27% lower year-to-date through late 2025 compared to 2024, with some months running 40% below prior-year volumes. For charcoal specifically, the Chinese export to U. S.

is a smaller component of total supply than Indonesian or Paraguayan product, but the disruption in China-sourced supply created additional pressure on the alternative supply chains that were already absorbing the Indonesian tariff impact. Paraguay, the second major source country for U. S. charcoal imports, faces its own trade complications.

Paraguayan charcoal exports are heavily weighted toward hardwood lump product favored by the premium BBQ market, and the country’s export capacity has been shaped by deforestation regulations and bilateral trade agreements that do not include the same