Shortages in the aluminum can supply chain are making news across the country. Sales of canned beverages have spiked over the last few months, while the availability of cans shrank drastically. Second only to automotive, the packaging industry consumes more aluminum than any other industry. Cans compose a significant portion of aluminum consumption. Today at Arizona Iron Supply, we will take a look at how the aluminum can supply in Arizona impacts local manufacturers.

Industry-Wide Aluminum Can Shortages

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, more and more people are opting for drinks in cans. From soft drinks to hard seltzer, canned drinks are high in demand. The increased demand for canned beverages necessarily led to a corresponding increase in the demand for aluminum cans. Suddenly, there weren’t enough cans available, and can prices started to climb. 

Aluminum can prices have increased by as much as fifty percent—from 10 cents per can to 15 cents.

Can shortages affect everyone from small breweries selling crowlers to their local audience, to major brewing operations and beverage manufacturing giants. Since canned beverage sales are up, beverage makers all want to escalate production. However, lack of aluminum cans has caused product shortages instead. Beverage makers must absorb the increased costs while dealing with shortages as well as they can, even if it means paying a higher price and waiting longer for delivery. 

Why Aluminum?

Canned beverages have been steadily growing in popularity over bottled beverages, for a variety of reasons. Consumers like aluminum cans because they travel well and they’re easy to recycle. Manufacturers like aluminum cans because they are inexpensive compared to glass bottles, and they are better at preserving the quality of the product. 

Beverage distributors prefer aluminum cans because they preserve the product inside without altering its flavor. Aluminum is odorless and impermeable to both light and oxygen. It extends the shelf life of a beverage and preserves its quality. Inexpensive compared to glass, aluminum is also less breakable, resulting in reduced losses from damages. The light weight of aluminum also reduces shipping costs, especially compared with glass.

Aluminum Can Supply in Arizona

Major can manufacturers are actively working to increase production and build new facilities. In fact, the Ball Corporation has a manufacturing plant under construction in Glendale, Arizona. Their new location in the Loop 303 Corridor will supply the neighboring new Red Bull energy drink distribution center. 

The availability of aluminum cans will have a direct impact on Arizona’s economy in the near future. White Claw, maker of the wildly popular hard seltzer, is also opening a new production site in west Glendale. As reported by The Glendale Star on July 9th,

“Red Bull and the Ball Corporation are building a 700,000-square-foot manufacturing facility with a projected 140 jobs. A Red Bull distribution center of the same size will hire another 100 workers. For its White Claw manufacturing plant, in the finishing phases of a nearly 1 million-square-foot site, Mark Anthony Brewing expects to hire 200 workers.”

Remember to Recycle

Aluminum can be used again and again and recycled directly back into itself without any loss of quality. Nearly 75% of all aluminum produced in the United States is still in use today. Keep cans out of landfills—a recycled aluminum can could be back on the shelf as a new product in just a few months. 

Contact Us

While we don’t sell cans, we do offer a wide array of aluminum products. Arizona Iron Supply stocks aluminum rods, metal channels, sheet metal, and more. For an extensive aluminum supply in Arizona, visit our warehouses in Phoenix or Scottsdale. We’ll outfit you with the right parts to get the job done. Contact us today to learn more.

Photo by YesMore Content on Unsplash