Gone are the scenes in supermarkets with empty commodity shelves, but the story is not over, the coronavirus continues to hit supply chains globally. In Mexico, the lack of glass and aluminum worldwide is causing serious supply problems preventing them from packaging the product, which has generated a serious shortage of beer in Juarez.
Everything from convenience stores to bars, cantinas and restaurants are out of supplies. All of them have been having problems for a couple of weeks due to the lack of metal beer containers, which has seriously affected local breweries in this Mexican city, the most populated city in the state of Chihuahua, and the eighth largest metropolitan area in Mexico.
However, Francisco Aguirre, businessman of the guild, said that after a meeting held with some 250 businesses that are customers of Carta Blanca, they were told that although there is product, there is no way to pack it for the lack of glass and aluminum. He adds that the lack of the product occurs in all brands, from Indio to XX and Tecate. “They are only giving priority now to the XX Ultra, which has had a lot of strength and acceptance by young people, so they chose to bet only on that,” he says.
“Before, the delivery guys used to come two or three times a week and fill us according to our needs, but now it’s only once a week and that’s under a single schedule,” he reiterates. Within the guild of the city there is fear before the shortage of glass containers and cans and to delay this situation, some breweries stop their operations while the supply of bottles is resumed.
The Juarense businessman also mentioned that according to the same Moctezuma brewery, it could be three more months that this situation will be prolonged. Despite this, this situation has not caused prices to rise in the face of the problems faced by the brands. “Last year there was a shortage of beer because the breweries closed but now the price has not gone up,” he said.
From the Association of Craft Brewers of Mexico (Acermex), point out that this problem is suffered by most of the 1,200 craft breweries that exist throughout the country, except for those located in Baja California, where there is a company that manufactures glass bottles, and is the option that brewers have, although it involves higher transportation costs.