Saturday, January 29, 2022

The Sinking 'Beer-Ship'

 Since Covid started up (spring 2020)....there are a thousand things in Germany which have been damaged by the virus.  Beer production is one of those items.

If you open up any weekend shopping discount circular.....there's typically a entire page where eight to twelve beer brands are offering their product at a reduced rate.  This discount is more than what you'd typically expect.

Reasons for the beer problem?  A lot of pubs and bars are marginally functioning.  By the time you add up the ban-rules and past use of curfews....there's just fewer people in bars who drink.

For a German brewery to survive?  Well....they need people to stock up on beer at the grocery/drink shop, and drink at home.  To be honest, this strategy is marginally working and beer simply isn't 'moving' at the pace you had in 2019.

By the end of year one of Covid in Germany....there was a 5.5-percent drop in beer sales.....which hurt the industry greatly.

The longer this goes on?  That's the curious question to ask.  Various breweries probably have a 'drop-dead' point in their business plan and are trying to just survive until Covid ends.  

Presently, there are around 5,500 brands/types of beer in Germany.  I would take an educated guess that if Covid lingers around for an entire decade.....you'd probably see a quarter of the brands/types retired.  It's not a crisis or Avenger-type emergency....but it's probably a negative event in the making.  

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