B.C. brewers prepare for can shortage amidst aluminum tariffs

Another industry impacted by the U.S. trade war, B.C. brewers are expressing concern over tariffs on aluminum.

Mauricio Lozano, the owner of Faculty Brewing Company, told The Leader Spirit that his business only has about two months of supply of aluminum cans left before he has to go out and buy more. With tariffs on aluminum, that cost could increase dramatically.

“The biggest fear we have is, obviously, cans and aluminum is the main packaging that we have for all our products … an increase in price will definitely squeeze more the margins that we currently have,” he said.

Lozano’s beverage business brews beer and kombucha, and he says he has noticed other breweries are scrambling to buy new cans in response to the U.S. tariffs. 

“You know that toilet paper situation that happened during COVID? Everyone’s buying a lot of cans,” he said. “If this goes beyond two months, then I’m out of cans, and I will need to go ahead and purchase at a higher price.” 

“You know that toilet paper situation that happened during COVID? Everyone’s buying a lot of cans,” he said. “If this goes beyond two months, then I’m out of cans, and I will need to go ahead and purchase at a higher price.” 

But it’s not just the aluminum that’s an issue.  

Lozano said tariffs are impacting many parts of the business, from select beer made from hops imported from Oregon to the machine doing the canning. 

“Unfortunately, it’s an American machine,” he said. “So any spare parts we need to buy will come from the U.S. Usually we have to replace the rollers, sometimes the chalk, sometimes the filler heads, and those are very technical, custom-made parts of the machine and those will definitely get tariffed.” 

As businesses struggle with higher costs, some of that price will ultimately fall on the consumers.

“A lot of times we have to eat that difference, people are spending a lot – and tend to spend less when you increase your prices. Price will definitely get passed onto the customer if [we can’t eat the price],” he said.

As challenging as the trade war has been for many sectors, Lozano faces it with a smile – no stranger to year after year of unpredictability since the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“You have to adapt. Our values are right up on the wall, you can go check them – we have adaptability as one of our values,” he said. “We live it every day. We are always adapting!”