(Gone Baby, Gone)

Sheltering-in-place Mexicans, already suffering from rising temperatures and crowded conditions, have something new to worry about…no beer.

When President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador declared a national health emergency at the end of March he deemed breweries non-essential. And no brewing equals no beer south of the border.

To make matters worse, at least from a Mexican perspective, Victor, NY-based Constellation Brands who operate two breweries in Mexico that brew Grupo Modelo brands like Corona for export only, was allowed to keep brewing for North American consumers even as beer disappears from Mexican stores.

(Not much to celebrate this year)

On a conference call with analysts, Constellation Chief Executive Officer Bill Newlands said the company was not going against government recommendations…

“I have no comment regarding a competitor and what they are choosing to do or not choosing to do… What I would say is, today… we are operating. We have changed how we run shifts in our plant to make sure there are no overlaps in case any issues occur with people’s health”

Constellation Brands bought US distribution rights for Corona beer from AB InBev’s Grupo Modelo in 2013. AB InBev brews Grupo Modelo beers for Mexico and South America.

Oxxo, Latin America’s largest chain of convenience stores told Bloomberg that its outlets could run out of beer in the next 10 days from Mexican breweries run by Anheuser-Bush InBev and Heineken thanks to a government mandate that has shut them down for more than a month now.

And with Mexico’s beer loving population under lockdown orders and beer disappearing from store shelves, a robust black beer market has emerged with speculators demanding “more than twice the pre-pandemic price,” according to the Guardian. “Hashtags like #LaÚltimaChela (the last beer) trended on Twitter, while users posted pictures of empty fridges.”

“We’re not producing a single beer,” Karla Siquieiros, president of Cerverceros de México, told the el Universal newspaper.