Aluminum cans increasingly popular in ever-growing beverage industry

Demand for aluminum is impacting the food and beverage industry, including craft beer brewers.

Great Rhythm Brewing Company has been treating New Hampshire consumers to craft beer since 2012 with kegs and aluminum cans, the vessels of choice.

“It is a great package, for beer, it helps the beer stay fresh and not get light-struck so it’s no wonder why we turned to the package. It’s also really friendly to ship,” said Scott Thornton, of Great Rhythm Brewing Company.

Aluminum cans are increasingly popular in the ever-growing beverage industry.

Competition is up and supply is down, especially with China cutting production.

Smaller companies are turning to third-party vendors when some national suppliers raised purchase minimums to a point that is now out of reach.

“We’re obviously limited with how many we can hold, so things like that five truck limit minimum in a space like Portsmouth is really tough to warehouse,” Thornton said.

Demand for beer is up but meeting it can be tough. Third-party vendors are helping but can costs are now almost double pre-pandemic prices.

When big can suppliers dumped small craft beer companies, it added to costs on the production line. Large beverage manufacturers are impacted much less.

With their capital, they’re able to forecast out and place those orders well in advance and carry the supply,” said Kevin Daigle, president of the New Hampshire Grocers Association.

Competition is rising and not just in the beverage aisle — demand is up in the pet food aisle, with the jump in dog and cat adoptions.

“With that, you’ve now seen a spike in pet food production which was typically something that wasn’t really competitive on the aluminum marketplace,” Daigle said.

Brewers are trying to push through the shortage for now.

“Time will tell how long everybody can last without increasing prices,” Thornton said.