The recent tariffs imposed by the United States on good made in China are now having an affect on the piano business. As of Sep. 1 2019, all pianos will sustain a 15% price increase.  Another 10% will be imposed later in the year.  This will bring the price of pianos from China up a whopping 25%!  This is crucial to the piano business because 80% of all of the pianos made in the world today are made in China.  This includes pianos mad in China by German, Czech, Japanese, Korean and American piano companies.

What does this mean for the consumer?  A piano that might sell for $5,000 today will sell for $6250 with the 25% tarrif plus the additional percentage of mark up brining it to $6,500 to the end consumer. In the history of piano sales, we have never experienced an increase like this on new pianos. Even piano makers that manufacture in their home countries use parts that are often manufactured in China.  Knowing this increase would be coming, we purchased a large number of pianos at the pre-tariff pricing.  This includes pianos from most major piano makers in both grand and upright styles and digital pianos.

Tariffs are a two way street. In retaliation, China has imposed a 25% increase on pianos made in the USA. They are also including in their tariffs string instruments, organs, keyboards and basically any instrument or musical instrument accessory made in the USA.  Unfortunately, this is a giant blow to an industry that has been in decline for many years.  Hopefully everyone will come to their senses soon but in the meantime, if you’ve been thinking about buying a piano, now is the best time while we have pianos purchased at the pre-teriff pricing.