THUNDER BAY – The owners of a local brewery are hoping the federal government will help take the edge off tariffs on the American-made cans they fill with beer.
The countermeasures implemented by the Trudeau Liberal federal government on Canada Day, retaliating against U.S. tariffs on Canadian aluminum and steel levied earlier this year, adds a 10 per cent hike on aluminum cans that are brought north of the border/
Matt Pearson, co-owner of the Sleeping Giant Brewing Company, said although the brewery uses all Canadian equipment, the only option for their tall cans come from a production facility in Indiana.
Pearson said he has contacted the federal government and urged that businesses don’t take a hit from the increased cost of the cans.
“Those empty cans are being filled by Canadian companies. That’s the backbone of what we do,” Pearson said. “Putting a tariff on a full can of product is something that’s going to impact the exporting company, which is I think the intention of what the tariff was meant to do.”
Pearson said the federal government has indicated that brewers can fill out a form and request reimbursement for the tariffs.
So far Sleeping Giant has avoided paying the higher rate as they doubled the order of cans from their supplier prior to the levying of the tariffs.
With Sleeping Giant producing about 700,000 cans of beer annually, including two more brews that are going to be moved into cans later this year, the cost would be felt if the tariff remains in place without any form of relief.
Breweries don’t have a lot of options when costs go up, Pearson said.
“Beer is a game of low margins so you have to drive high volume,” Pearson said.
“Putting a tariff on the packaging of beer is just a cost that although we would like to be able to absorb that cost and not pass anything on to the consumer, the realities are that with the increasing taxes at some point the price point will have to go up. We’ve resisted that here for quite some time but a tariff that big would result in every single can going up in price.”
Sleeping Giant has four of their beers – Northern Logger, 360, Mr. Canoehead and Skull Rock Stout – in specially printed cans that are sold through the LCBO, The Beer Store and grocery stores. Canning has helped the brewery reach markets across the province. Along with those brews, other seasonal releases are sold through their brewery store in generic cans.
They are far from alone, as the vast majority of craft brewers in Ontario rely on cans to get their beer into the hands of consumers.
“To have that option being taken away would be devastating. Every Canadian brewery is into cans,” Pearson said.
“We’ve all got canning equipment. There are a lot of great Canadian companies producing this canning equipment that we all buy and use. It would be catastrophic if cans become cost prohibitive.”
