A carbon dioxide shortage may force production cuts and price hikes as brewers scramble to find and keep suppliers, reports NPR.
"We've talked to our supplier, and our supplier basically told us they were not taking on any new clients to make sure that their long-term clients have a steady supply of CO2," said Bryan Van Den Oever of Red Bear Brewing.
The ingredient is crucial to beer production as it blocks the beverage's oxidation which effectively preserves its taste.
For much of the pandemic, ingredient and packaging price hikes and restricted CO2 access have affected beer makers; however, according to Bart Watson, chief economist at the Brewers Association, CO2 prices have begun to spike.
Paul Pflieger, communications director of the Compressed Gas Association, blames the scheduled maintenance shutdown of many ammonia and ethanol plants responsible for CO2 production, and record summer heat that has driven up gas demand.
However, he advises a silver lining is on the horizon: "We anticipate things to start reaching some normalcy in the next 30 to 60 days," he told NPR.
This shortage especially impacts smaller breweries that cannot pay for equipment to capture the CO2 gas that occurs as a byproduct of alcohol fermentation and reuse it. Full Story
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