The CAN van is a mobile beer and wine packaging company based in Sacramento specializing in canning. The company works with local breweries, notably Urban Roots, Fort Rock Brewing and Slice Beer Company.
The co -founder and CEO Jenn Coyle said that the company had entered the aluminum packaging space because aluminum has many advantages: it protects the product from light and oxygen and is lighter and more recyclable.
“We buy cans to bring to breweries or vineyards for their canvas,” said Coyle. “Some of our customers get their own cans directly from companies, or they get them from businesses that decorate cans, as with a retractable sleeve before sending it to the producer to the brewery. We are therefore part of a long chain of suppliers in the aluminum cans industry. ”
The company began in 2011 by offering a preserver to local breweries and, in 2015, it added the canvas of wine.
The van can face uncertainty with regard to their aluminum products with the recent emergence of prices on all imports of steel and aluminum.
In February, President Donald Trump signed proclamations to restore 25% of steel prices and increased aluminum imports to 25% of all American business partners.
The prices imposed are an attempt to stimulate American producers and to end the unfair trade practices of foreign competition. Aluminum and steel prices entered into force on Wednesday, March 12.
Coyle said that although they had not yet felt the effect of aluminum prices, she was worried about the costs of materials that increase and decrease for her small business.
“We all have a lot of concerns about the increase in raw material prices that we need to make products, that consumers will not be willing to absorb this, and they will go to other options, or simply give up these products in general,” she said. “This will hurt everyone in the industry that provides all these services and all these elements of these products that are manufactured.”
It is not the first time that Trump has imposed aluminum and steel prices; He did so in his first administration in 2018. He imposed 25% prices on steel and 10% tariffs on aluminum.
Aluminum and steel prices will increase costs for Americans who use metals in construction, packaging, manufacturers, automobiles and consumer goods.
They will also affect small businesses on imports of steel and aluminum, such as car van, which obtains most of its Canada aluminum materials.
CAN Vans on site packaging in the installation where they pack the drink in the tank area. (Photo Gracious of Jenn Coyle)Uncertain factory of prices
Although the Trump administration is trying to restore equity on the steel and aluminum markets in the United States, the manufacturers claim that the prices will create local price instability.
Lance Hastings, president and chief executive officer of California Manufacturers and Technology Association, predicted that prices would soon increase, describing the prices as a “cost driver”.
“The prices end up being paid by American consumers; this is how it works. It is not a tax on the country that exports. It is in fact an increase in costs for the importance,” said Hastings. “And we try to manage these costs as best we can. The more nature about these current prices is quick to change with which they were announced, and the abolition of days after their implementation.”
The manufacturing sector is looking for five to 10 years later, and it is difficult to plan when short -term disturbances affect these plans, according to Hasting.
“This cannot be underestimated; it is very destabilizing because all we want is the stability and reliability of the regulatory landscape, the legislative landscape, the input landscape between capital and labor,” he said. Prices tend to disrupt this. »»
On March 13, Canada imposed 25% reprisals Of $ 29.8 billion in products imported from the United States.
These prices will remain in place until the United States overturns its rates on aluminum and Canadian steel products.
“This makes the products we manufacture in this country and trying to export more expensive in these countries, and it ends up being a kind of race down,” said Hasting. “What I would like to see are the countries that are in existing trade agreements or even new ones, and have conversations on what trade should look like.
Hastings has mentioned that California will add a new stew from Pacific Steel Group. They will build the state First new steel For the first time in 50 years, “which is a good sign, but short -term prices will be very disruptive,” said Hasting.
Large cans of beer filled with the Van Can in a Sacramento brasserie. (Photo Gracious of Jenn Coyle)
Small businesses are waiting for pricing price
According to the Can manufacturers instituteThe United States produces 135 billion metal boxes for food, drinks and other products each year.
Coyle said there was a lot of confusion and uncertainty about the prices at the moment, the Canadian prices being taken and remote. She said their suppliers had not increased purchase prices for them and their customers.
“I have the impression that it will disembark because a large part of what we get from Canada is a raw aluminum stock,” said Coyle. “Thus, even if the cans themselves are manufactured here in the United States, they require part of aluminum.”
Coyle said that the Van Guys of the cans of a packaging company like Berlin or Saxco, both in Fairfield. These suppliers buy cans from one of the manufacturers of the United States
Access to the aluminum cans has been an important challenge since the start of the CAN van, according to Coyle. She said that large manufacturers can be set up to serve their biggest customers, companies like Pepsi or Budweiser, and they will not sell cans directly to small buyers.
Coyle said that the introduction of pricing rates is particularly difficult for small businesses because they have fewer options and less margin to work.
“The limitation of options makes it more difficult for new brands and companies to start and ultimately encourages a landscape for consumers where drinks are not only more expensive but with less variety and innovation.”
In an email, Coyle said that the import of Mexico or China can give them access to packaging options and allowed them to be able to sell their drinks.
“Aluminum cans are a key element of a long chain of companies that bring a canned drink to the shelf, including drinks producers, label manufacturers and boxes, packaging service providers like us, distributors and retailers, who are all affected,” said Coyle.
Coyle said the company had so far not been charged with the prices imposed. She said she thought her suppliers are waiting to see what’s going on because the cans they are currently using were produced a few months ago.
“We have been in business for long enough for us to live the first cycle of aluminum rates,” said Coyle. “This has definitely increased the price of aluminum cans, and he had the impression that there was this increased price which did not immediately turn around and did not fall when these prices expired or over time. This is part of the inflationary landscape that we all live.”
Additional prices affect prices and manufacturing
With the current prices announced by the president, a trade war also rages between Mexico and CanadaThe two countries on our borders. The two countries have 25% prices on all imports.
Canada is the largest importer of California wineBut due to a trade war, the country has decided to withdraw wine and American manufacturing alcohol from its shelves.
Coyle said that since Canada stopped buying California wine, his business had immediately felt the impact. She said that if the prices remain in place and Canada does not buy California wine, her business will not be able to do her job and that no one will be paid.
“We have a customer who manufactures a specialized wine product specially for the British Columbia alcohol store,” said Coyle. “We were supposed to be preserved this week, in fact, and a few weeks ago, they said:” Well, they canceled this order, so we have to cancel this project. So there are many people who are affected by these policies at all levels. »»
The cans of the order of rosé wine have already been printed. The wine is in the tank. It was in their schedule ready to leave, but Canada will not take the product.
“”We do nothing, “said Coyle.” It is very disruptive for our schedule because we have reserved time, we have programmed things. We have programmed people, materials and all this. So we try to move people and do other projects, but it certainly has an impact. »»
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