After 45 days in shutdown, Grupo Modelo’s Yucatan beer plant and its sister cervecerias across Mexico are gradually reopening.
The plants are equipped with modern technology and are expected to keep up with pent-up demand, company officials said.
By the end of May, beer shortages had occurred throughout Mexico during the coronavirus lockdown. It also produced an economic crisis for barley producers which depend on the beer industry. Mexico is the world’s fourth-largest beer producer and the number one exporter. Four out of 10 of the world’s beer bottles are “Hecho en México.”
Modelo has a production capacity of little more than 82 million hectoliters a year. Its eight plants operate in Yucatan, Zacatecas, Coahuila, Mexico City, Guadalajara, Oaxaca, Sinaloa and Hidalgo. Yucatan’s brewery opened in 2017. Grupo Modelo, which is owned by Belgian multinational Anheuser-Busch InBev, spent 8.5 billion pesos, or US$443.7 million, on the high-tech plant.
The company produces 46 brands, including Corona Extra, Corona Cero, Negra Modelo, Modelo Especial, Pacífico and Victoria. Modelo also imports Budweiser, Bud Light, Goose Island IPA and Stella Artois brands.
Modelo had argued against the shutdown, imploring the federal government to consider it an economically essential business. Farmers and small grocers depend on the factory supply chain for revenue, Modelo said.
The Yucatan facility, in Hunucmá, employs around 600 workers.
Source: El Financiaro
