Beer prices are on the rise

Remember Joe the Plumber? I’m sure he’s not going to be happy about this.

The cost of a beer is soon to be on the rise and the increase is due to brewers trying to compensate for not only higher commodity prices but also lower sales. Anheuser-Busch InBev came out on Tuesday saying that it would be increasing the price to consumers.

In a statement the company said, “We plan on taking price increases on a majority of volume and in a majority of markets this fall. The increase helps cover some input costs.”

MillerCoors also come out saying something similar. It plans on raising prices in some of its markets. However, this company regularly increases prices in the fall to go in line with rising commodity prices and other costs associated with its brewing process.

Of course, the rise in prices didn’t completely come out of nowhere. This recession hasn’t been as kind to beer as one would think it would have been. This time around, alcohol sales were actually down and now the companies are trying to make up for the lack in sales.

One company, Heineken, has risen its prices and uses the rise to account for its profits regardless of its drop in volume. However, Heineken will not likely be able to raise its prices any further due to its main competition being Corona, who said that it will not be increasing prices of any of its brews.

I thought it was kind of strange that in this economy beer sales were so far down. Of course, it’s not like the companies are going broke or planning a bankruptcy anytime soon; I’m sure that they weren’t expecting the economy to be so harsh to them as well.