US Postal Service

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The US Postal Service (USPS) has restarted handling packages from China and Hong Kong after yesterday putting a stop on the processing of parcels from those origins.

In a service bulletin update, USPS said that it will continue accepting all international inbound mail and packages from China and Hong Kong Posts.

"The USPS and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) are working closely together to implement an efficient collection mechanism for the new China tariffs to ensure the least disruption to package delivery," the postal service said.

When the suspension of packages from China and Hong Kong was announced yesterday, no reason was given for the decision.

However, it seems likely that the move was linked to the US decision to halt the de minimis - or section 321 - exemption that allowed parcels worth less than $800 to enter the country without paying duty and with minimal customs scrutiny.

The ban on the de minimis exemption for packages from China was part of a wider decision to implement tariffs of 10% on goods from the country.

CBP is faced with the prospect of having to collect duty and information on the packages it processes from China and Hong Kong. CBP processes an average of 4m de minimis packages per day, most of them from China.

The number of de minimis shipments coming into the US has risen rapidly in recent years with the rise of e-commerce players such as Temu and Shien, which are thought to be responsible for around 30% of e-commerce heading into the US.

The sudden need to collect extra data and duties for these packages is likely to put strain on CBP and there are expectations of delays to parcels.

Data from Rotate shows that 1.2m tonnes of low-value e-commerce are imported into the US by air cargo each year.

The air cargo market is still picking apart the impact of the de minimis exemption and tariff annoucement, with e-commerce having fuelled rapid market growth over recent years.

While some are concerned it could have a large impact pushing up the price of items and slowing down the delivery process, others have suggested the effects could be more limited.

At the recent World Cargo Summit, Swissport’s vice president for e-commerce Nikolia Schaffner said the average value of an e-commerce package is between $15 and $18 meaning even a tax of 20% is absorbable.

Temu and Shein have also in the past said they are prepared for any changes to the de minimis exemption.

Meanwhile, Xeneta chief airfreight officer Niall van de Wouw said that e-commerce volumes out of China had grown by between 20%-30% over each of the last couple of years reflecting consumer demand for cheap-fast goods.

He pointed out that even with the need to pay duties, goods are still likely to be cheaper than buying them from retail stores.

Delays caused by the need to process millions of parcels could be more of an issue for consumers than the extra cost, he said.

"China e-commerce was not set up to take advantage of de minimis loopholes - it has taken advantage of consumer demand for cheap, fast goods," he said.

“E-commerce products may be slightly more expensive if de minimis is removed, but they will still be cheaper than buying through retailers in the US – but delays in receiving the goods due to operational disruptions could have a bigger impact than price because it takes away the attractiveness for consumers."