6 replies to this topic

[Rogerdodger]

Whoever got the bright idea to turn corn into fuel had to be drinking beer.
Now they are going to pay!

For drinkers of beer, prices may soon be hopping
The costs of key ingredients are taking off
LINK
The prices of hops and barley, two of the essential ingredients in brewing, continue to rise, as do the costs of shipping and bottling.

Hops and malt, a form of barley essential to fermentation, are both in short supply nationwide. The shortage is caused by poor crops, high demand, the weak dollar and the increasing popularity of ethanol, which has prompted farmers to plant corn rather than hops or barley.

Contracts to buy both commodities in advance can lock in prices, and with production of 372,000 gallons per year, Hale's is big enough to have negotiated good contracts, he said. But signing a contract entails the risk of buying more than is needed, which could have its own costs.

At Mukilteo's Diamond Knot Brewing Inc., huge jumps in contracted hops prices "have put us in a cash-flow crunch," said Vice President Bob Maphet.
"We have to pay tens of thousands of dollars right now for something we won't use until next year, and we're trying to figure out how to pay for it," he said. "Where there's an increase, everyone needs to find a way to pass it on. The impact could be higher beer prices, simple as that."

Worldwide hops acreage of 230,000 acres in 1994 shrank by 51 percent, to 113,000 acres, in 2006, because the crop sold for less than the cost of production, Olson said.

Because ethanol is such a hot commodity today, "farmers are saying 'Screw the malt; we'll just grow corn,' "

[Rogerdodger]

Beer prices set to rise
LINK
Wholesale prices of various types of Slovak beers owned by the Heineken and SabMiller breweries will increase by up to 10 percent as of December, the Pravda daily wrote on October 10.

Heineken, which owned a 46-percent share of the Slovak market in 2006, will raise the price of Zlatý Bažant, Corgoň, Kelt, Martiner and Starobrno.
SabMiller, which had a 39-percent share of the market last year, will increase the cost of Topvar, Šariš, Smädný Mních, Velkopopovický Kozel and Gambrinus.

The situation is similar across Europe, due to big increases in the cost of beer ingredients. The price of barley has increased by more than 60 percent over the past year, while that of hops has risen by more than 40 percent.
"We've also seen a significant increase in the cost of packaging," Heineken Slovensko spokesman Roman Krajňák said.

Australia: Beer prices about to rise
Is it the drought or is it a conspiracy? LINK
Latest figures from the Department of Primary Industries reveal 78.6 per cent of the State is in drought with virtually no rain recorded in the major cropping and pastoral zones over the past month.

“There’s no doubt much of the estimated winter crop is now lost due to the ongoing dry conditions,” primary industries minister Ian Macdonald said.
“Wheat and barley are among those crops hardest hit.
“As a result, we could see everything from bread to beer made in NSW cost a little more as Christmas approaches.

It could be worse:
Poor Zimbabweans:
The price of beer last week also went up by more than 100 percent.
A pint of beer now costs $280 000 up from around $70 000 while a quart had gone up to $550 000 from about $250 000 at most beer outlets.
But an official retail prices released by Delta indicated that a pint of Castle, Pilsner and Lion should cost $165 000, with a quart of the same brands going for $330 000.
A 2kg packet of sugar now cost $450 000, up from $300 000, a 750 ml of cooking oil has gone up from $400 000 to $1 million on the Black Market.
A bar of washing soap that should cost $550 000 is now sold at between $700 000 and $1 million.

[dasein]

cant post cause i read it last week, but the drought in australia has pushed a number of farmers into bankruptcy - that may take acres out of production for a while. OTOH, a lot of them sold wheat forward on the basis of the national weather forecast, causing them to buy bac the forwards in the market - this may have caused wheat to go higher in a squeeze. what it means to me is that the forward months in wheat could top out soon, but LT the trend is still up. klh

[traderpaul]

If you are a beer drinker, you stock up on beer......When the retailer advertise....They planed them weeks in advance.....So if the price goes up.....They have to change their ads or sell them at the ad price.....Sometimes it is to late for them to change the ad price.....

[Rogerdodger]

If you are a beer drinker, you stock up on beer.

I'm not much for beer.
But the problem with stocking up is that unlike wine, beer eventually becomes stale.
When it leaves the brewery, it's the best it will ever be.

My dad was in the beer business.
Modern beers are pasteurized but in the old days, beer was like milk, it had to be kept cold once it was produced.
Before refrigeration, Schlitz was the beer that made Milwaukee famous.
Milwaukee was near Lake Michigan which would freeze over in the winter.
Great blocks of ice were cut out and moved to warehouses filled with sawdust for insulation.
It would take all summer to melt the ice.
Thus Schlitz beer could be kept cold all summer in there.

But even though pasturized now, beer will become less tasteful over time.

Edited by Rogerdodger, 20 October 2007 - 01:39 PM.

[milbank]

I'm not much for beer.

I am "much" for beer and I've been seeing prices going up considerably for the better part of a year now over what I had been paying for it in 2006.

[Rogerdodger]

I drink screwdrivers. Orange Juice has already nearly doubled this year. Looks like meth's gonna be a bargain.