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Empty beer bottles: It's best to return them to the deposit machine as quickly as possible
Photo: Britta Pedersen/ dpa
Brewers in Germany only recently pointed out possible increases in beer prices.
Apparently there is also a shortage of beer bottles in the warm season.
"We see bottlenecks in the summer at the latest," said the general manager of the German Brewers' Association, Holger Eichele, the "Bild" newspaper.
One reason is above all the sharp rise in costs for energy-intensive bottle production.
The situation is "extremely tense".
In addition, due to a shortage of truck drivers in the logistics industry, it is becoming more difficult to maintain the supply chains.
"Those who don't have long-term contracts currently have to pay 80 percent more for new glass bottles than they did a year ago," Eichele told the newspaper.
"Some breweries are threatened with running empty, they may soon be without bottles." Consumers should return empties to retailers as quickly as possible in order to ease the situation.
The deputy head of the Berlin-Brandenburg brewery association, Stefan Fritsche, said that the shortage of bottles mainly affected small and medium-sized breweries.
"This threatens diversity on the German beer market," Fritsche added.
Beer could be up to 30 percent more expensive
Two weeks ago, the brewers had declared that increases of up to 30 percent in the purchase price could be expected.
This would mean that the general cost increases in production would be passed on to customers.
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.
"The cost increases are beyond all dimensions," said the managing director of the German Brewers' Association, Holger Eichele, of the "Bild": "Whether pallets, brewing malt, beer mats or crown caps - the prices are going through the roof.
We have never seen anything like it.«
Possible rising beer prices would be included in the general price development.
According to 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.
jok/AFP
