The lack of glass and the “absurd” prices at which the bottles are sold are causing “great discontent” in the beverage industry, which points to the increases made in the face of the fall in energy costs to 2021 levels as ” incomprehensible” The Associação de Vinhos e Espirituosas de Portugal (ACIBEV) wrote a letter to its glass factory counterpart, AIVE, warning of the “major impact” this has on the financial situation of companies, and promising the legal means available to she has to use. The Association of Traders and Exporters of Wines and Spirits (ANCEVE) speaks of a “disproportionate war” and asks the Prime Minister to mediate at a meeting of the sector. The Brewers of Portugal warn that everyone is being harmed, including consumers.
Rising costs of raw materials and consumables have been one of the top concerns of companies in 2022, but will continue in 2023, at least in some areas, such as glass packaging, with bottles costing more than double today compared to 2021. on average, the wine sector speaks of increases of over 55% on average and new increases of more than 20 to 40% at the end of 2022 and the beginning of 2023, at a time when energy costs have already fallen back to the level of 2021 “These are incomprehensible increases and without any objective justification,” says ACIBEV, warning of the risk they pose to the sustainability of companies, many of which are small and medium-sized.
The executive director of the association even talks about the risk of closures. And he reminds that if companies are forced to find “alternative packaging solutions”, the glass sector will suffer. “The message we want to get across is that you shouldn’t think about winning everything at once, and that glassmakers’ financial reports, which show strong earnings growth, are public. They should be more cautious about what they are doing now. deserve and think that the sustainability of wine producers is important for the sustainability of the glass sector itself,” emphasizes Ana Isabel Alves.
When asked what legal remedies the sector could use, this person in charge referred the question to a future evaluation. Ana Isabel Alves says she has not received a response from the association to the letter sent, but that “some companies began to receive letters saying that prices would fall by 5%”, a value “completely ridiculous given the brutal increase” verified so far.
The chairman of ANCEVE confirms the information about the 5% price drop, but also considers it “manifestly insufficient”. For Paulo Amorim, the situation will have to be mediated by the prime minister, as the agriculture minister “does not have the political and institutional confidence of the sector”. With António Costa not responding, ANCEVE is now turning to the Assembly of the Republic. Paulo Amorim met this week with Socialist deputy Pedro do Carmo, chairman of the parliamentary committee on agriculture and fisheries, and will make an official request for a meeting with all parliamentary groups.
The aim is to find a “fair agreement that protects the interests” of small and medium-sized winegrowers. “In addition to the increases and charging energy costs and transportation costs and demanding advance payments even from those who comply, companies rely on their history to attract new customers when a producer asks for more bottles than usual. cuts the legs “of a sector that made very interesting performances at the export level,” assures Paulo Amorim It should be remembered that wine exports reached a record value of 941 million in 2022, but it is already admitted that the target of 1 billion for 2023 To get there, the sector would need to grow above 6.2% this year, after exports fell 2.9% in the first two months.
Beers also harshly criticizes the glass industry. The secretary-general of the Cervejeiros de Portugal association also speaks of “brutal increases” that have forced the industry to make an “enormous containment effort” in order not to harm consumers. “Energy prices have been falling consistently in recent months. It would make more sense for the glass industry to adjust its prices downwards, even taking into account the strong public support it received when energy prices rose,” emphasizes Francisco Gírio.
More moderately, the Federation of Portuguese Agro-Food Industries (FIPA) says the pandemic and war have left “a trail of consequences” that will take time to dissipate. Also because, emphasizes the president, Jorge Henriques, “the downward stabilization in the spot energy market will only be reflected in the lives of companies sometime in the second half, when new contracts are signed”.
Yet there is no shortage of those who speak in hushed tones in consultation situations and threaten to file complaints with the Competition Authority, as the glass sector in the Iberian Peninsula currently consists of only three companies, but with six factories and 16 furnaces, which produce 16 million producing bottles, jars and jars per day.
The Association of Packaging Glass Manufacturers justifies the inability to provide sector statistics “that do not violate competition rules” precisely because there are only three players on the market. The association’s secretary general recalls that with the pandemic there was a “boom in demand for glass to package food and beverages”, a situation exacerbated by the war, which forced customers “to think about the exaggerated energy costs” with what they faced.
Beatriz Freitas recalls that this is a sector with very specific characteristics, as a glass furnace works 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. “Unlike other industries, which produce customer-specific orders, a glass factory often produces for stock. With the pandemic and the war, these companies completely disappeared and the market had to be immediately supplied with the production of the products,” he explains. .
And he adds: “Now companies are producing for stock again, so the lack of bottles tends to stabilize”.
And prices too. “Energy standardization will eventually be reflected in prices as well. I don’t know how long it will take, not least because each of our employees adapts their need for increased production to the commercial relationship they have with their customers and the strategy it has adopted”, underlined.
Source: DN
