Although most of the country remains in the red on the government’s stoplight system for the reactivation of the economy, beer is back in production and on the shelves in several areas after a two-month drought.
Grupo Modelo halted production at the beginning of April, as beer was not considered an essential product by the federal government during the quarantine period, which ended on May 30.
Beer production and sales resumed on Monday in various states, as well as in Mexico City, where Grupo Modelo has a brewery. The company also owns and operates the world’s largest beer plant in Zacatecas, the only state in the country not in the red on the reactivation stoplight.
Supermarket chain Soriana and the convenience stores OXXO and 7-Eleven all announced that they were once again selling suds.
Beer sales also resumed online. Retailers Amazon and Mercado Libre added beer to their available products on Monday, charging around 430 pesos (US $19.75) for a case of 24 473-milliliter cans.
In Nuevo León, where the halt in beer production triggered panic buying in April, authorities announced that beer production would return to 50% capacity on the first day of the “new normal.”
Grupo Modelo and the country’s other large beer manufacturer, Heineken, have not released any information about the return to production.
Sources: Milenio (sp), El Universal (sp)
