P.E.I. brewery experiencing delays getting aluminum cans
Canadian Beverage Association says it's aware of the shortage
With these hot summer days, many Islanders might want to crack open a cold can of beer. But one brewery in Charlottetown says it's starting to notice more delays in getting aluminum cans.
Typically, Upstreet Craft Brewing can expect smaller orders of cans (anywhere from 20,000 to 60,000) to arrive in a week or two. For trailer loads of cans (about 200,000), delivery takes about four to six weeks.
"Now we're expecting up to three months' delay on a trailer load of cans. We've found putting any new orders of printed cans by the trailer load, we're not able to source until 2021," said Joel Walker, production manager at the brewery.
The brewery just got a trailer load of cans last week. When Upstreet orders by the trailer load, the cans come with custom graphics printed on, but no blank or semi-blank cans come in these orders.
"We're stocked up for a little while, but we're now planning for other outages and other upcoming brands that we're going to want to get cans for," said Walker.
Those plans include branching out to other suppliers, he said.
Walker said he thinks a change in industry trends is part of the cause of the shortage.
People are staying at home more, not going to restaurants. So, they're purchasing packaged product a lot more.— Joel Walker, Upstreet
"Definitely at the beginning of this year we didn't expect to be running into this. Now, you know, we are very dependent on cans, that's the trend in the marketplace," he said.
"It's really trending away from bottled product. So now that we're relying mainly on cans and they're becoming harder and harder to source, that's the reality now."
'People are staying home more'
Along with the change in trends, COVID-19 is also having an impact on how, and where, people drink.
"People are staying at home more, not going to restaurants. So, they're purchasing packaged product a lot more."
As the summer goes on, Walker said he thinks the situation could get more difficult.
"I'd say by the end of the summer, we potentially could expect delays even greater than that or potentially just not being able to get cans," he said.
National shortage of cans
The Canadian Beverage Association, the organization that represents non-alcoholic beverage manufacturers in the country, said it's aware of a national shortage of aluminum cans.
"The beverage industry, like the entire consumer product sector, has been impacted by many new pressures due to COVID-19, said Jim Goetz, president of the association, in a statement.
"Since the onset of the pandemic, our members have been working quickly to respond to changing consumer shopping behaviours, customer needs, and supply chain impacts."