Oktoberfest, one of the best-known festivals in Germany and the world, kicked off this Saturday (17) after a two-year hiatus due to restrictions related to the coronavirus pandemic.
Thousands of people wearing lederhosen, leather shorts typical of the local culture, gathered for the event that usually attracts 5 million visitors to Munich from around the world and generates €1.2 billion (R$ 6.3 billion) for the regional economy.
City Mayor Dieter Reiter, who kicked off the celebration with the traditional act of breaking a keg of beer with a hammer, said the festival, which runs until October 3, will be held without any Covid-related restrictions. The 2020 cancellation was the first since WWII; before that, in 1854 and 1873, cholera epidemics prevented the event from taking place.
Some of those present, among the long tables where beer, sausages and pretzels are sold, told the Reuters news agency, said they were surprised at the resumption of public events on such a scale.
The return of the party, however, also reflects the effects of the current context. The jump in the prices of agricultural commodities and energy due to the Ukrainian War created difficulties for the brewers, who passed on part of the costs in the price of the drink. Germans are among Europe’s biggest beer drinkers – last year’s average was 84 liters per inhabitant.
The German Brewery Federation, in a statement published on Friday (16), called on the German government to take action to prevent “hundreds of companies in the German beverage sector disappearing and thousands of workers being unemployed”. A 1-liter mug of beer, for example, will cost from €12.60 to €13.80 (R$66 to R$72), which represents an increase of about 15% over the values ​​valid in 2019, in the last edition. pre-pandemic, according to calculations by the Bloomberg agency.
According to German broadcaster Deutsche Welle, inflation – at 7.9% a year in Germany – has hit the price of glass bottles, which today cost 80% more. In the same vein, the costs of packaging caps have increased by 60%, and even glue for labels is in short supply. In addition, breweries rely on natural gas in the brewing process.
A key diplomatic agent in the conflict unfolding in Eastern Europe, Germany has been one of the countries most affected by the power cuts coming from Russia. On Friday, anticipating the possibility that Moscow could also cut off oil supplies, Berlin took control of a major Russian oil refinery. However, the amount of crude oil stored in the structure and the new origin of the oil are uncertain, once the Russian pipeline is interrupted.
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