Rising steel prices imperil the beer industry

Here's living proof of the interconnectedness of all things. I'm sure once Steven Levitt, the Freakonomics guy gets a hold of this, he will have a field day.

Canadian Business: U.S. beer makers say more steel kegs disappearing as metal prices rise

With metal prices rising, beer makers say they expect to lose hundreds of thousands of kegs and millions of dollars this year as those stainless steel holders of brew are stolen and sold for scrap.

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While only about 12 per cent of U.S. beer is sold in kegs each year, it costs brewers as much as $150 to replace each keg, so the thefts have a big impact. In the past few years, breweries have collectively lost about 300,000 kegs a year, Becker said, out of an estimated 10.7 million in circulation.

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Craft brewers are anxious to solve the theft problem because as much as 40 per cent of their business is tied up in keg sales, triple the industry average, said Ken Grossman, founder and owner of Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.
His company, based in Chico, Calif., expects to lose at least 30 pounds per cent of its kegs each year and often must wait months for replacements because it orders in smaller batches.

The thefts couldn't come at a worse time because the craft beer segment has outpaced growth in the domestic market, he said.
"If you can't meet the need, you're not going to grow much anymore," Grossman said.

Believe me when I tell you that any issue which threatens the beer industry is something I take very seriously.

It used to be that the only peril beer kegs faced was strongman competitors and old school weightlifters. Now the muscleheads have to contend with the scrap pirates for those big heavy kegs.

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