Californian craft brewery concerned about cost of cans rising with Trump aluminum tariffs

Record ID: 1984517

  • Title: Californian craft brewery concerned about cost of cans rising with Trump aluminum tariffs
  • Date: 17th March 2025
  • Summary: OCEANSIDE, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (MARCH 14, 2025) (REUTERS) BLACK PLAGUE BREWING EMPLOYEE LOADING ALUMINUM CANS INTO MACHINE EMPLOYEE MOVING LEVERS TO FILL CANS WITH BEER VARIOUS OF CANS ROTATING THROUGH MACHINE VARIOUS OF EMPLOYEES WORKING AT BEER CAN FILLING MACHINE (SOUNDBITE) (English) PRESIDENT OF BLACK PLAGUE BREWING, JORDAN HOFFART, SAYING: "We're getting notifi
  • Embargoed:
  • Keywords: ALUMINUM BEER BLACK PLAGUE BREWING PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP TARIFF TRADE WAR
  • Location: OCEANSIDE, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES
  • City: OCEANSIDE, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES
  • Country: US
  • Topics: North America,Government/Politics,International Trade
  • Reuters ID: LVA001952617032025RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: U.S. President Donald Trump’s imposition of 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports has the president of a small craft brewery in Southern California worried about how much of the anticipated increase in the cost of cans he can pass on to consumers without affecting sales of his beers.
    Black Plague Brewery was founded in Oceanside, California in 2017 and produces a range of IPAs, lagers and fruit beers, both in kegs and in aluminum cans, with cans producing the smallest profit margin, according to the business’ president Jordan Hoffart.
    “We tend to focus on on-premise sales with kegs because our margin is significantly better than off-premise aluminum cans. With cans, it's more labor, more packaging, way smaller margin, and the price point's lower. So, the 25% tariff will be taking an already small margin and basically making it almost nil," he said.
    Hoffart said his brewery does not benefit from lower costs associated with the bulk purchases made by large beer companies, so every penny counts.
    "We unfortunately do not have the purchasing power to buy in bulk like the bigger brands. So it's the small guys that are going to feel at the most,” he told Reuters, as workers filled aluminum cans with the brewery’s ‘Tropicus’ pale ale beer.
    Black Plague has already been notified by its suppliers that the tariff will impact the cost of can. Increased costs will have to be passed on to consumers, Hoffart said, but there is a limit to how much people are willing to pay for cans of beer.
    “The fear is we can only pass so much cost to the consumer before they look elsewhere and find a cheaper alternative," he said.
    Canada and China, both being hit with tariffs, are two of the world’s largest producers of raw aluminum that the United States then manufactures into products like cans for the consumer.
    "I fear that we're going to have to carry the entire increase in costs and then we're going to be forced to pass it to the consumer to some degree and then reassess the finances to see where that pricing lands," Hoffart said.
    (Production: Mike Blake, Matt M. McKnight)
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