No water, no beer Supply bottlenecks hit Bonn’s drinks cash-and-carry stores
Bonn · There are gaps in the rows of drinks crates in many of Bonn's beverage markets. The traders report that these are because of supply bottlenecks. There are various reasons.
The shelves seem to be emptying in many cash-and-carry stores (Getränkemarkt). Where just a few weeks ago the crates were stacked up to eye level, there are now gaps. "The supply bottlenecks have been going on for eleven weeks now," says Fabian Pauk from the Bonn branch of Getränke Hoffmann. In the past three weeks, it has become really bad, and beer and water have been hit. At first it was only a few brands, but now it affects almost everyone, sometimes more, sometimes less. Some customers bring back their empties and then leave disappointed when their favourite brand is missing.
At "Daniels Getränke" in Beuel, one or two brands are not readily available, and they sometimes arrive one or two weeks late, says Marc Boos. He is aware of bottling problems, but mostly it is delivery problems, he believes. "Customers still understand the situation," and he is optimistic.
He cannot imagine that there could be a real shortage of water. "But two years ago I could not imagine many things," he says. Who could? One problem that this beverage market shares with many others in Bonn is that there not enough space for big stockpiles.
Retailer advises customers to stock up
Ingo Grober of the Zisch Getränke Center in Bad Godesberg does not have this problem. "I always tell people to stock up enough, to make sure the shops are kept fully stocked," he says. He also has two large suppliers who are very reliable. If there is a supply shortage, his customers don't notice it so quickly.
Most customers are not seriously worried either. "As long as water comes out of the tap we won’t die of thirst," says Silvia Beske, taking it with humour. Martin Gruber simply drives to another beverage market when his favourite brand of beer is missing and buys a few crates right away. But no one is thinking about hoarding, like toilet paper at the beginning of the pandemic or flour and sunflower oil in March at the start of the war in Ukraine. Word has spread that this is not worthwhile and only makes everything more expensive.
Andreas Vogel from the board of the "Verband des Deutschen Getränke-Einzelhandels e.V." sees three reasons for the supply bottlenecks in the beverage trade.
War in Ukraine contributes to supply bottlenecks
First, there’s the war in Ukraine. For example, right at the beginning of the war, a large glass factory outside Kiev was destroyed. One of this factory’s customers was Coca Cola. Of course, a large company can find another supplier, but it takes time until everything runs smoothly again. Besides glass, many deliveries of ingredients are also lost.
Secondly, there’s the loss of many Ukrainian and Polish truck drivers, which disrupts supply chains. It is estimated that there is a shortage of more than half a million drivers across Europe due to the war alone.
Thirdly, according to Andreas Vogel, there are the marketing strategies of the producers. Fancy glass bottles are created, which increase sales figures in the short term, but also have the effect that our exemplary reusable bottle system functions less well. Especially in summer, unsorted empties often pile up and bottles cannot be refilled quickly enough. If there were only one or two types of bottles used by all breweries, as in the past, the returnable system could function much better and more sustainably.
And as far as price increases are concerned, Andreas Vogel calmly looks at the figures. In 2000, he says, a crate of beer from a leading producer cost 19.90 DM. Even today, 22 years later, the same beer is occasionally on sale for 9.90 euros. He is in France at the moment, where such drinks cost four times as much.
(Original text: Sabine Robels; Translation: Jean Lennox)
