UK: Britain risking beer shortage from lack of carbon dioxide

Britain risks a beer shortage from a lack of carbon dioxide, a pub group has warned, with bars already struggling from high energy bills and a cost-of-living crisis that is forcing people to cut back on non-essential spending, Bloomberg reported on August 26.

Fears of another squeeze on carbon dioxide supplies arose this week when fertilizer company CF Industries Holdings said it would halt ammonia production at its last UK plant in response to soaring natural gas prices. CF Industries supplies 42% of the country’s supply of CO2, Members of Parliament said on August 26.

Natural gas is needed to make most nitrogen fertilizers, and CO2 is a byproduct of the process. The CO2 is then used in the food and drink industry, such as to stun animals for slaughter, preserve products on supermarket shelves, and to make beer fizzy.

The British Beer and Pub Association is calling on the government to prioritize brewing and pubs as critical sectors.

The UK government won’t offer CF Industries further financial support to help stave off a threat to a carbon-dioxide supply crisis, according to a person familiar with the matter. Last year, the UK provided the company with a three-week support package to keep its plant open.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said in a statement that the market’s resilience has improved since last autumn and urged the industry to make sure it can meet demand.

“Our pubs and brewers are between a rock and a hard place and waiting even a few weeks for the government to act could be too long,” said Emma McClarkin, chief executive of the British Beer and Pub Association.

Carlsberg A/S warned it may have to reduce or halt its beer production in Poland due to a shortage of liquid carbon dioxide after the country’s largest chemicals company, Beata Ptaszynska-Jedynak, suspended production. Russia’s squeeze on gas flows -- a key feedstock for fertilizers and a power source for Europe’s heavy industries -- is affecting everything from aluminum smelters to sugar refineries.

“Recent reports that CF Fertiliser will be halting production of ammonia are worrying, given the knock-on impacts this decision will have on CO2 production in the UK,” said Robert Goodwill, Chair of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs parliamentary committee. “Any disruption to CO2 supply could have serious effects on food production, national food security, and animal welfare.”

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