FORT SMITH, Ark. (KTHV) With the effects of the looming trade war are just starting to be felt, one indicator might be found in the warehouse districts here in central Arkansas. Products like meat and vegetables that can't find customers overseas are expected to pile up in cold storage facilities.
Zero Mountain Logistics of Fort Smith has five operations in Arkansas that their owner called "packed full." While that’s typically how the company operates this time of year, there are signs that businesses like that could be the early beneficiaries of an international tariff battle.
“Although we're not experiencing problems with the products we have tariffs on, anytime there is a glut in the cold storage industry, it sends a ripple effect across all cold storages across the country,” said Cliff Cooley, the general manager of the North Little Rock plant.
He gave a reporter a tour of the huge freezer, stocked floor to ceiling with chicken, pork and beef – much of it from Arkansas producers. The recent tariffs put in place by the Trump administration are expected to give those producers trouble selling to places like China and Europe. That means things could start to pile up in warehouses.
“It is good for Zero Mountain,” Cooley said. “It's a positive thing that we look at as a sign of a good strong economy.”
There could be trouble on the horizon as soybeans stay stored longer because of tariffs. That hurts prices for the many soybean farmers in the state, but it also means lower prices for consumers for all perishable commodities.
“Everything has a shelf life and a best buy date,” Cooley said. “If it starts rolling around and product starts aging inside our freezers, then our business partners will probably have to do something in order to flow that product out.”