Rising raw material and energy costs also hit the breweries in the district.
The malt price in particular has reached an all-time high.
The result: brewing beer is becoming more expensive.
Either the breweries bear the additional costs - or the customer ends up paying more for the barley juice.
Fürstenfeldbruck
- "The energy prices are galloping away", says Helmut Guggeis, managing director of the König Ludwig brewery.
What is meant are the electricity prices, which have been rising for months, which are causing manufacturing costs in the brewery to skyrocket.
Added to this are the rising prices of raw materials.
In the brewery industry, malt in particular is the problem child.
“The malt price has risen by 25 percent,” says Guggeis.
"We have never had such high prices in the history of the brewing industry."
China buys a lot of brewing barley
Guggeis sees events on the world market as the cause.
"The Chinese buy our brewing barley and use it as feed barley, among other things." That drives up the price.
The mix of these price increases, from energy and cardboard to raw materials, means that the Kaltenberg Brewery cannot rule out a beer price increase.
Managing Director Guggeis estimates that the turbulence in the market will continue until mid-2023.
For Michael Schweinberger from the Maisach brewery, an increase in the price of beer is out of the question.
Even if prices are currently “exploding”.
Reason: In Maisach, the price of beer was not raised until the spring.
Prices increased in spring
At the beginning of the year, the brewery decided to take this step in order to absorb the effects of the corona crisis and the lockdowns. The customers reacted with understanding throughout. But raising the prices for the ten types of beer again is not an option, says Schweinberger. And with a view to the rising raw material prices, he adds: “We have to swallow that now.” Overall, it is assumed that the situation will recover again, says the managing director. He found out about this in discussions with colleagues and suppliers. Only when the price situation will calm down cannot currently be predicted.
In the Germeringer Brauhaus, you haven't noticed the rising raw material prices so far, says managing director Daniel Vitt.
This is mainly due to the fact that certified organic raw materials such as organic malt are used for the beer.
“There are currently no major fluctuations in the price,” says Vitt.
"That's why we don't see any reason to increase the price at the moment."
New cooling saves electricity
Compared to other breweries, the bottle of beer in the Germering brewery costs a little more anyway because of the organic certification. And the customer is aware that he will have to pay more for the Germeringer beer. In return, the price of beer has never increased since it was founded three years ago. In Germering, there is also no need to worry when it comes to electricity. “We have only just bought a new cooling system,” reports Vitt. With this, the brewery wants to produce more energy-efficiently and save electricity.
"Close your eyes and go through", says Guido Amendt, managing director of the Olching brewery with a view to the rising costs.
Because even in Olching, they do not want to turn the price screw for the time being.
"We only have to calculate something for the Hopfenbua variety," says the brewery manager.
This is because the aroma hops used cover a longer route to the brewery and are therefore affected by higher transport costs.
It is not just the production of the beer that is becoming more expensive.
"Last week we heard from the glass supplier that the price was going to be ten percent higher," reports Amendt.
Price increase not excluded
But here the brewery wants to remain stable at least this year.
"But I'll be honest: we don't know what energy prices will look like next year," says Amendt.
Therefore, he could not completely rule out a price increase.
"But we still try without it," says the head of the brewery.