Flemish breweries rush beer exports to US after tariff threat
Several Flemish breweries are anticipating the 200 per cent tariffs on alcohol imports from the EU which US president Donald Trump on Thursday threatened to impose. Brewery Huyghe in Melle, East Flanders province, decided to immediately send twenty containers of Delirium Tremens to its branch in the US, reported VRT News.
Brewery Huyghe fears the price of its Delirium Tremens beer could triple if Trump indeed imposes 200 per cent import duties on alcohol products from the EU. “Delirium is one of the most expensive beers in the US and if you also have to triple your price, I don't think it will be marketable anymore,” said managing director Alain De Laet of the brewery group to VRT News.
Because Brewery Huyghe has its own American branch, it has a standard stock in the US for three to four months. “But we have now decided to immediately send some twenty containers that we had in stock in Belgium. Thanks to those extra stocks, we can hold out for about six months.”
Brewery Huyghe is also taking action at its recently acquired brewery Het Anker in Mechelen. The group was already planning to export more Gouden Carolus beer to the US and build a more extensive stock there.
“We are now going to do that too faster than planned,” said De Laet. “And so I have also issued instructions in Mechelen to send all the beer to the US immediately, even if there are incomplete containers. All the containers that are already available will leave early next week.”
#FlandersNewsService | Brewery Huyghe in Melle © BELGA PHOTO NICOLAS MAETERLINCK
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