Yahoo TV

STORY: German brewers are facing

a dire carbon dioxide shortage

Location: Markt Schwaben, Germany

It's affecting the production of

beer, soft drinks and mineral water

(Erich Schweiger, Director, Brewery Schweiger)

"Beer is actually the least endangered of all products because the carbonic acid in beer is natural carbonic acid. It is produced during fermentation. I only need a little CO2 to fill the beer into the bottle. With soft drinks, lemonades, mineral water, the situation is different. We add the carbonic acid that is in there with technical carbonic acid. And if I don't have any carbonic acid, I can't fill a lemonade. It's as simple as that."

CO2 is in short supply because

less fertilizer is being made in Germany

due to soaring energy prices

(Walter Koenig, The Bavarian Brewers' Association)

"The brewers are very worried. Not only because of the carbon dioxide. Energy prices are skyrocketing, other supply chains are breaking. We are having a very, very difficult time because we really have to think completely from week to week. We have procurement problems, raw material prices have exploded insanely with the Ukraine war. It's a tough time. The pandemic was a piece of cake."