Craft brewers brace for canning costs to rise
US craft breweries are being forced to reconsider how to package beers now that tariffs have been placed on aluminium. The post Craft brewers brace for canning costs to rise appeared first on The Drinks Business.
US craft breweries are being forced to reconsider how to package beers now that tariffs have been placed on aluminium.
In March, President Donald Trump imposed 25% tariffs on steel, aluminium and other derivative products. The move, which was based on the initial import taxes in 2018 which established tariffs of 25% on steel and 10% on aluminium from most trading partners has now stepped up with the new tariffs eliminating exemptions granted to the 2018 levies.
Added to this, earlier this month, the Trump administration added a 25% tariff on all canned imported beer as well as any empty aluminium cans, giving breweries reasons to rethink the sourcing of their packaging.
In a recent interview with the MBA, Missouri-based Piney River Brewing Co co-founder Joleen Durham explained how last month “a truckload of cans before the tariffs was about US$25,000” and yet when the brewery first started canning “almost 14 years ago, a truckload of beer cans with freight was maybe like US$18,000, so the prices of aluminium cans have gone up quite a bit”.
Now, however, according to Durham, brokers within the US are raising their prices to match the cans coming in from further afield.
Durham said: “When we knew that there were new tariffs coming, we were like, ‘You know what? Let’s see if we can get ahead of this and order in a truckload of cans.’ We contacted our broker, and they were willing to give us a quote, but they told us: ‘Right now, we’re running six to eight weeks on printing these cans, so you’ll have to pay whatever the market price is at the time.’ And what we found is that, with these tariffs, even if your product is from the US, as in aluminium or steel, those producers in the US just raise their price to match what is coming in from outside of the US. So there’s a 25% tariff on aluminium and steel products, regardless of where it comes from. That’s really frustrating when you’re a business that is trying to do everything you can to not have to raise prices.”
Durham admitted: “I think breweries like us, our size, have a little bit of concern that larger macro breweries, like your Anheuser-Busch or Molson Coors…are ordering such large volumes of aluminium that they’re working outside deals to help keep their price of aluminium down. We’re just not big enough to try to do some type of side deal. So, ultimately, the small-business owners, we take it on the chin first. And that’s what I’ve tried to tell our consumers is that, you know, these tariffs hurt us first.”
Durham lamented: “We’re going to have to pass those increases in price along to the consumer ultimately. I don’t know when that will happen, but there will be a general industry move to do that.”
In March, President Donald Trump imposed 25% tariffs on steel, aluminium and other derivative products. The move, which was based on the initial import taxes in 2018 which established tariffs of 25% on steel and 10% on aluminium from most trading partners has now stepped up with the new tariffs eliminating exemptions granted to the 2018 levies.
Added to this, earlier this month, the Trump administration added a 25% tariff on all canned imported beer as well as any empty aluminium cans, giving breweries reasons to rethink the sourcing of their packaging.
In a recent interview with the MBA, Missouri-based Piney River Brewing Co co-founder Joleen Durham explained how last month “a truckload of cans before the tariffs was about US$25,000” and yet when the brewery first started canning “almost 14 years ago, a truckload of beer cans with freight was maybe like US$18,000, so the prices of aluminium cans have gone up quite a bit”.
Now, however, according to Durham, brokers within the US are raising their prices to match the cans coming in from further afield.
Durham said: “When we knew that there were new tariffs coming, we were like, ‘You know what? Let’s see if we can get ahead of this and order in a truckload of cans.’ We contacted our broker, and they were willing to give us a quote, but they told us: ‘Right now, we’re running six to eight weeks on printing these cans, so you’ll have to pay whatever the market price is at the time.’ And what we found is that, with these tariffs, even if your product is from the US, as in aluminium or steel, those producers in the US just raise their price to match what is coming in from outside of the US. So there’s a 25% tariff on aluminium and steel products, regardless of where it comes from. That’s really frustrating when you’re a business that is trying to do everything you can to not have to raise prices.”
Durham admitted: “I think breweries like us, our size, have a little bit of concern that larger macro breweries, like your Anheuser-Busch or Molson Coors…are ordering such large volumes of aluminium that they’re working outside deals to help keep their price of aluminium down. We’re just not big enough to try to do some type of side deal. So, ultimately, the small-business owners, we take it on the chin first. And that’s what I’ve tried to tell our consumers is that, you know, these tariffs hurt us first.”
Durham lamented: “We’re going to have to pass those increases in price along to the consumer ultimately. I don’t know when that will happen, but there will be a general industry move to do that.” 
