Carbonic acid shortage worries brewers and mineral water producers

20-Sep-2022 - Germany

A shortage of carbon dioxide is slowing down German brewers and mineral water producers. "production has already been cut back in some places," Tobias Bielenstein, spokesman for the German Fountains Cooperative, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur. Carbonic acid is produced when water and carbon dioxide react. Because the energy-intensive production of fertilizers, which produces carbon dioxide as a byproduct, has been curtailed, this also has consequences for the availability of carbonic acid.

"If this continues over the next few weeks, the situation will come to a head," Bielenstein warned. Further production declines in the beverage industry can then be expected, he said. He said it was impossible to predict whether individual producers would have to halt production. "But we are extremely concerned, and some of the mineral springs are very unsettled," Bielenstein said. "We've never had a situation like this before."

Holger Eichele, chief executive of the German Brewers Association, called the development worrisome. Currently, he said, only 30 to 40 percent of the usual CO2 supply volumes are available, according to estimates by the German Food Industry Association. For many companies, this has dramatic consequences.

Breweries are affected to varying degrees by the problem. They need carbon dioxide primarily to "preload" tanks, bottles and kegs so that the beer does not come into contact with air during filling, Eichele said. But many breweries also make soft drinks that require carbon dioxide, he said. "We receive new cries for help from the industry every day."/ah/DP/he (dpa)

Note: This article has been translated using a computer system without human intervention. LUMITOS offers these automatic translations to present a wider range of current news. Since this article has been translated with automatic translation, it is possible that it contains errors in vocabulary, syntax or grammar. The original article in German can be found here.

https://www.yumda.com/en/news/1177756/carbonic-acid-shortage-worries-brewers-and-mineral-water-producers.html