US President Donald Trump The threat of imposing radical metal rates creates concerns and opportunities in the manufacture and packaging of canads, an industry that is based strongly on raw materials.
25% tax on aluminum and steel In the United States from March 12, and the possibility of reprisals tariffs should have undulations for beer, soup and everything else that the metal sealing producers.
“It’s just another success that industry cannot take,” said CJ Hélie, president of Beer Canada.
“The scale and the timing, you know, could not be worse.”
While almost 90% of the beer consumed in Canada is brazed here, most cans are imported, including the popular size of 473 Millitrants popular among craft breweries, he said.
American cana manufacturers import Canada’s metal – metal represents around 70% of the price of a box. The prices would make these imports more expensive for American companies, in turn increasing the cost of these cans when sold to Canadian companies.
If Canada imposes its own counter-tale, the goods could be hit twice.
“We are still in an accessibility crisis. Everyone feels it everywhere, and therefore if these potential prices and countermeasures of Canada come into play, the brewers will face a very difficult decision, “said Hélie.
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The industry is faced with aluminum prices which are much higher than the 10% imposed during the last mandate of Trump, and although the tax represents only a few hundred per box, the costs for the industry will be in the Hundreds of millions of dollars, said Hélie.
The potential costs are also higher because the cans gain popularity compared to glass bottles, which represents 75% of sales in 2023, compared to 53% in 2015, said the professional association.
The previous series of tariff threats led to a certain interior production of cans, but given the costs involved and the integrated nature of the economies of the two countries, it was not easy to increase capacity, said Hélie.
Erick Vachon is one of those who saw a domestic production opportunity, because the supply chains have become less reliable.
He co -founded Ideal CAN in 2020 and now leads what he says to be the only Canadian producer of food cans while producing a range of other offers on three lines, each producing around 1000 cans per minute.
Anticipating more demand for its cans produced at the national level, Vachon works to add another change to increase capacity and compensate a little at the time.
“The price is bad for, of course, for Canadians,” said Vachon.
“So I need three -quarters of work per week, and of course, we seek to increase the capacity of the factory.”
But that will hardly make a breach in demand, with the capacity of CAN ideal of approximately 400,000 per year, compared to the consumption of what it said to be around 1.8 billion cans per year in Canada .
The total market can be affected by prices and countermeasures is much more important. The Institute of Manufacturers of Canada based in the United States said that around 25 billion cans had been produced for human food and pets in 2023 for the United States and Canada, plus 103 billion cans of beer and soda.
The professional association urged Trump to at least exempt the mill steel in tin of prices, because, unlike the tariffs, American producers have ended up closing nine factory lines after Trump has imposed taxes import for the last time on metal.
Others always try to understand the implications of prices, in particular with the still unclear Canadian countermeasures.
“We are not very clear with the instructions at this stage how it will be taxed,” said Maresh Singh, co -owner of Canadian Canadan Based in Hamilton, Ontario.
“There is a lot of uncertainty at this stage at this stage.”
The distributor holds around 80% of its activities in the United States and has manufacturers in Canada as well as in Mexico, stressing how integrated the market is.
What he knows is that prices will increase with prices.
“Admittedly, products, the cost of products, would increase for Americans. It is certainly a fact.
He said he hoped to have a better understanding of the implications in the coming days, but a point to remember that he already has is the need to stimulate the security of the offer.
“Canada should have more production here in Canada itself, at least to protect Canadians from these threats.”
& Copy 2025 the Canadian press