"Afraid of COVID-19?"... 'Cass' Disappears from Bars and Convenience Stores, OB Sweats It Out

Cheongju Factory Halts Operations, Significantly Reduces Production
Supply Shortage Amid Social Distancing Easing Atmosphere
Convenience Stores and Bars Suspend Orders... "Normalization Expected Early Next Week"

[Asia Economy reporters Choi Saeng-hye, Lee Seung-jin] Recently, purchasing 'Cass' beer has become as difficult as "picking stars from the sky." This is due to a large-scale order suspension at convenience stores and bars. The core cause of this situation is attributed to OB Beer significantly reducing Cass production last month after suffering sales damage from the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19). Moreover, OB Beer’s cargo workers declared a collective strike, causing disruptions in distribution.

According to the distribution industry on the 8th, since the 6th, orders for Cass have been suspended at many convenience stores and marts such as Ministop, 7-Eleven, and CU, as well as bars. The affected products include Cass 355ml cans, Cass 500ml cans, Cass Q-pack 1.6ℓ, Cass 500ml bottles, Cass 640ml, and all bottled Cass products (355ml, 500ml, 1.6ℓ). GS25 and Emart24 still have stock stored independently, so orders are possible but the order quantities are being limited. It has also become difficult to find Cass at entertainment establishments.

The biggest background to this situation is that OB Beer drastically reduced Cass production starting last month. OB Beer, the number one beer company, saw sales drop by about 30% until last month due to the impact of COVID-19, and from the 6th of last month, it suspended production at the Cheongju plant for four weeks. This was not a full shutdown of the entire plant; rather, operations related to equipment and shipping were maintained, and only product manufacturing was halted.

The Cheongju plant is responsible for about 25% of OB Beer’s total production volume. It was a very unusual decision for a beer factory to suspend production for a month ahead of the peak season.

An OB Beer official explained, "Due to the impact of COVID-19, the entertainment market itself has contracted over the past few months, leading to a decrease in alcohol consumption, so production volume was adjusted accordingly. However, from the end of last month, as social distancing measures began to ease and holidays overlapped until early this month, alcohol demand surged unexpectedly, causing supply problems."

To make matters worse, OB Beer’s cargo workers declared a strike, causing further disruptions in logistics and distribution. According to the Cargo Solidarity Headquarters OB Beer branch, OB Beer cargo workers declared a strike on the 6th, citing threats to their livelihoods by the OB Beer factory. The cargo workers stated, "Due to the suspension of operations at the Cheongju plant, cargo workers were forced out of their workplaces without any compensation," and raised their voices, saying, "OB Beer is ignoring the livelihoods of transport drivers who have been harmed by COVID-19."

Self-employed business owners who were notified of this situation by liquor wholesalers are increasingly anxious. Kim Ho-in (pseudonym, 41), who runs a chicken restaurant in Uijeongbu, Seoul, sighed, "Sales have already been halved since the spread of COVID-19, so it is a difficult situation, and now with disruptions in alcohol sales, it is very challenging."

However, OB Beer stated, "Since Cass production has normalized, we expect that Cass supply across all channels will proceed smoothly by the middle of next week."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.