The on-going shortage of aluminium cans due to the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to prevail and constrain beverage makers, according to Ball Corporation President Daniel Fisher. He projects the demand for aluminium cans will outstrip supply well into 2023.
Ball CEO John Hayes has warned the beverage companies considering using aluminium cans saying that the company is capacity constrained and there are no adequate cans to supply.
On the other hand, for Molson Coors, a multinational drink and brewing company headquartered in Chicago, shortage of cans has become less severe due to expanded sourcing efforts. Molson Coors has leaned on additional sourcing from four continents to shore up its inventory and also completed a production line for about 750 million sleek cans annually. It expects normal material availability to resume by the end of the first quarter of FY2021, said CEO Gavin Hattersley.
However, Molson Coors’ overall North American volume was down by 6.9 per cent YoY in 2020, attributing to aluminium can constraints and on-premise restrictions.
"After the uptick of the coronavirus pandemic, we aggressively began sourcing additional aluminum cans from all over the world to support our core brands to address unprecedented off-premise demand," Molson Coors CFO Tracey Joubert said.
Ball Corporation has also established a plant dedicated to producing aluminium cups, in anticipation of its expanded retail launch this year, said CEO John Hayes.
For Ball’s North America sector, volumes were up by 6 per cent in Q4 2020 and 11 per cent in the entire year. Multiple new US production facilities are in operation, while Ball is gearing up to expand production in Pittston, Pennsylvania, in the second half of 2021.
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