The postcard of the Tour
Glass shortage: Belgium worried about its beer
The workshop of the Saint-Bernardus brewery located near the French border in hop-growing Flanders.
© RFI/Alexis Bédu
Text by: Alexis Bedu Follow
2 mins
The Tour de France starts from Belgium this Thursday morning July 7 from the small town of Binche.
Two hundred and twenty kilometers to Longwy, in the east of France.
The postcard from the Tour today evokes a Belgian concern: the shortage of glass bottles which is affecting the country's brewers.
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From our special correspondent in Binche,
“
Huh what?
A shortage of beer
?
".
This northerner, a cycling enthusiast who came to watch the start of the riders in Lille, does not believe his ears.
Beer, in this region of Flanders, is sacred.
But let him be reassured, it is not beer that he risks running out of in the next few months, but containers.
The shortage is growing for Belgian brewers.
At Saint-Bernardus, a historic brewery located in the heart of the hop-growing region on the French border, the 33 cl bottle has become like the ring of Tolkien's saga.
“
Very precious,
insists Marco Passarella, marketing manager,
if you don't have a bottle, you can't sell the beer.
»
The most expensive beer
The pandemic and the war in Ukraine are creating a stir in the supply chain.
A large Ukrainian factory has stopped production and Russian producers can no longer export because of the sanctions.
Brewers, many of whom found their bottles in Russia, have turned to other European suppliers.
The latter are struggling to keep pace, finding themselves overloaded with orders.
They also increased their prices.
“
Normally a bottle costs 10 euro cents, but since the start of the war, it costs 12.5 cents.
It's a 25% increase in four months
, says Marco Passarella,
we have to raise our prices too.
Because of the inflation on raw materials, we already raised the prices of Saint-Bernardus on January 1, and we will increase another 4% at the beginning of September.
»
The deposit: anti-waste solution
Saint-Bernardus beers are consigned in Belgium so that the bottles can be used several times.
So Marco Passarella appeals to all foam lovers: “
Since the start of the pandemic, many customers have started storing beers in their cellars.
They should go see and if the beers aren't empty yet, it's time to do it now!
German brewers, also under pressure, are making the same request so that empty bottles are brought back to the store as soon as possible to be used again.
Marco Pasarella marketing manager at Saint-Bernardus, a brewery that produces 15 million bottles a year.
© RFI/Alexis Bédu
► To read also: The postcard of the Tour: on the trail of the Arenberg mine
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