Mexican Beer CEO: Commodity Costs in Line ... For Now
Brewer Grupo Modelo has kept a lid on the price of hops and barley for the first half of the year but that could be changing just in time for barbeque season.
"So far we have been able to manage" the price of the commodities needed for making beer, Chief Executive Carlos Fernandez Gonzales told CNBC Thursday. "We have all the hops and all the barley needed for our production, and basically we’re on the right momentum for our sales and revenue."
However, "pressure will come in the second half of the year" for Grupo Modelo , whose brands include the Mexican beers Corona and Negra Modelo.
"Some of the contracts we have with suppliers end in the first half and we’re negotiating" for the second half, and those suppliers want to change the conditions and the prices, he said.
Beer sales are far from flat. After a "couple of very tough years," Grupo Modelo is "fortunate to have the right strategies and the right products," the CEO said. The company has seen double-digit growth in Mexico and China, he said, and the U.S. is "outperforming the category."
