Mexico’s craft brewing industry is set to grow more than 10% this year, industry representatives said, despite facing skyrocketing costs and competition from large, internationally owned brands.
In a country with heavyweights leading the industry, such as the Dutch giant Heineken and Grupo Modelo, a unit of the Belgian Anheuser-Busch InBev, Mexican craft beer is making its way in a complicated context.
“The conditions of the pandemic , added to the war in Russia and the Ukraine …have sent prices skyrocketing,” Jose Rosas, a representative of the Mexican Brewing Association (Acermex), said in an interview with Reuters on Friday.
“Most of the inputs are imported, the exchange rate gives you a problem because it is rising and they are expensive because there is a shortage ,” he added.
Acermex expects craft beer production in the country to reach 34 million liters , up from 30 million liters in 2021, the equivalent of nearly 2 billion pesos ($100 million) in sales.
Independent brewers are also facing pressure from big brewers expanding in Mexico, the brewing body said in a separate message.
Heineken announced in June that it would build a can manufacturing plant with an investment of 1.8 billion pesos in the northern state of Chihuahua.
In its latest quarterly report, Heineken noted growing demand for Amstel and other low-alcohol brands, while Anheuser-Busch InBev said it was expanding distribution to hundreds of Mexican convenience stores.
