London — Even beer is being affected by Europe’s sweltering heat. Barley crops in northern Europe have fried under the hot and dry weather, raising potential problems for brewers that need to buy malt. Yields in key producers in Scandinavia, northern Germany and the Baltic countries could be 30% to 40% below normal, according to trader Evergrain Germany. Barley prices are already surging and costs will need to be passed down the supply chain. Some German brewers are starting to increase beer prices, said Stefan Vollmar, a trader at Hamburg-based merchant GrainCom. "We have a big supply problem," said Jonathan Arnold, the director of barley and oats at Robin Appel, a UK trading company. "Malt is not a lot of cost in a pint of beer, but collectively, over a lot of pints of beer, it is a big cost." In Scandinavia, extremely hot weather, which caused wildfires to spread across Sweden, has also meant that harvests are three to four weeks earlier than usual. The weather means the EU will ...
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