Investor relations reports often offer the first hint of the impact of tariffs and how the newly increased import taxes could impact shoppers. The latest report from Panasonic indicates that, while the company is still evaluating the impact of the newly announced trade agreements, “price revisions” could help limit the impact of tariffs to less than 1%.
Panasonic’s fiscal year begins on April 01, which means the fiscal data presented on July 30 is for the first quarter of the 2026 fiscal year. Because Panasonic says that the situation “remains fluid,” the impact of US tariffs has not yet been factored into the company’s financial forecast.
However, tariffs remained part of the conversation as the company presented investors with first-quarter results. Despite the first quarter including a time range with the new tariffs in effect, the company says that increased profit in all business segments helped to offset those early tariff costs.
Panasonic indicated that the company needs more data before making any decisions on US pricing changes to offset those tariffs. “We feel that we have to have all these details confirmed before we make any announcement,” A Panasonic representative said during the meeting’s Q&A session. “As we become ready to give you a more quantitative response, we will do so.”
While Panasonic has not yet made any official announcements on potential price adjustments, the presentation indicated that Panasonic is considering price changes to help offset those costs. Panasonic referenced possible changes to minimize the impact of the tariffs.
When the company estimated an impact on operating profit of less than 1% of consolidated sales, it made two assumptions on tariffs, one of which reads, “As a general principle, address cost increases caused by additional tariffs through price revisions.”
During the Q&A session, a Panasonic representative added, “If we do not do anything, that will hit our profit and loss numbers directly, but we would like to make sure, as we mentioned at the beginning of the year, we would discuss with the customers about the price policy so that the customer would pay a certain level of the burden to minimize the imapact, so that is what we are trying to do.”
Cameras are only a small percentage of Panasonic’s businesses, however, and are not part of the business categories that are estimated to be most impacted by the tariffs. Panasonic indicated that its connect and energy segments would be most impacted, including in-flight entertainment products, battery materials, and energy storage solutions.
While popular Lumix cameras like the Panasonic Lumix S5 II and the Lumix S9 have not changed in price, Panasonic increased the price of the Lumix ZS99 in the US by $200 in May. However, the company did not comment on if the change was related to the tariffs or demand for the compact camera.
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