USA: Molson Coors might suspend or discontinue some SKUs due to shortage of cans

Molson Coors is struggling with a shortage of cans, to the point where it might have to suspend or discontinue some SKUs, its top executives told analysts.

Speaking at the quarterly earnings call, CEO Gavin Hattersley said, “Like all other beverage companies, one of the biggest challenges this year has been packaging supply.” During the pandemic, consumers are drinking beer more often at home. This means less demand for bottles, which are more often used in bars and other foodservice channels, and more for cans, favored by home drinkers.

Molson Coors has sold 300 million more cans of beer in the first nine months of 2020 than in 2019. The demand for tall cans was four times what it was last year, Hattersley said.

He noted that a new line that can produce 750 million cans a year, a joint venture with Ball Corp., just came online. However, he said, “From a complexity point of view, from a brewery point of view, I would expect that we will have less SKUs coming up when we come out of this pandemic than we did coming into the pandemic.” He gave no indication as to which SKUs might face termination.

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