Enlarge image
Empty beer glasses (icon image)
Photo: Peter Kneffel / dpa
Consumer costs are rising in many areas.
In the near future, a sensitive price surcharge could also be added to the after-work beer.
Germany's brewery associations expect increases of up to 30 percent, as reported by the "Bild" newspaper (Wednesday edition).
"The cost increases are beyond all dimensions," said the general manager of the German Brewers' Association, Holger Eichele, the newspaper.
»Whether pallets, brewing malt, beer coasters or bottle caps – the prices go through the roof.
We have never seen anything like it.«
Compared to the previous year, the prices for electricity have risen by 250 percent, those for gas by 430 percent and those for pallets by 150 percent.
It is "clear that such drastic cost increases have to be passed on to the price," said Eichele.
Stefan Fritsche, deputy head of the Berlin Brandenburg brewery association, told the "Bild" that because of these cost increases, beer prices could climb by up to 30 percent by the end of the year.
Particularly rapid increase recorded in April
According to the latest figures from the Federal Statistical Office, consumer prices in April were 7.4 percent higher than a year earlier.
In addition to energy (plus 35 percent), food in particular has become significantly more expensive.
Here, the inflation rate was 8.5 percent in April – a significantly stronger increase than in the months before.
Food is one of the drivers of the current inflation.
Food prices rose by 6.2 percent in March 2022 compared to the same month last year.
One reason is Russia's war against Ukraine.
The country is regarded as Europe's granary and was previously the world's largest exporter of sunflower oil.
For this and similar oils, prices rose by an impressive 30 percent in March.
The increase of 14.8 percent was also significant for fresh vegetables.
Social and consumer associations have called for the abolition of value added tax for certain foods in view of the significant price increases for food.
The social association VdK, the Federal Association of Consumer Organizations (vzbv) and the German Diabetes Society called on the federal government to use a new EU regulation accordingly.
jok/AFP