By Hussein Waaile

CITY OF ORANGE (Reuters) – Four City Brewing Company, a New Jersey brewery, has announced that it will soon have to increase prices at its taproom due to rising costs of fuel, grains and aluminum.

Orange, New Jersey is where the craft beer manufacturer cans their product. The labor-intensive process involves weighing and packing each can individually before they go into boxes.

The company has so far not raised prices but this may change.

“Grain prices have risen 18, 20, and 25 cents per pound.” Anthony Minervino, co-owner, said that it is a large amount of money when you consider the cost of hundreds or even a thousand pounds for each batch.

Ukraine is one of the largest exporters of vegetable oils and grain in the world. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine (which Russia called a special military operation), Ukraine has issued export licenses to wheat. It also suspended the exports of rye and oats.

Roger Apollon Jr. said that the cost of brewing beer will be between $1 and $2.

“Nothing extreme. We have to pay our expenses because they have been quite significant.

Minervino indicated that the war in Ukraine would likely cause ripple effects. These inflations have been compounded with earlier inflation, on everything, including the barley which is used in the brewing of their beer and aluminum to make cans, electricity, and shipping prices.

They hope to recover some losses by focusing their efforts in the taproom.

Minervino stated, “If you compare prices three month ago for the can of beer, as opposed to now, we have grain, aluminum, fuel surcharges and shipping costs, it has gone up substantially.”