Mexican brewer of Corona beer suspends production

Looks like we won’t have Corona beer to kick around anymore.

For a little while, at least.

Grupo Modelo announced Thursday that it is suspending production of its Corona beer and other brands, including Modelo and Pacífico, after it was declared among the nonessential businesses in a Mexican government order to halt the spread of coronavirus, Reuters reports.

Corona beer has been the source of constant jokes on social media from the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak.

“If the federal government considers it appropriate to issue some clarification confirming beer as an agro-industrial product, at Grupo Modelo we are ready to execute a plan with more than 75% of our staff working from home and at the same time guaranteeing the supply of beer,” the company said.

The company said the suspension, which will begin Sunday, is already in motion.

“We are in the process of lowering production at our plants to the bare minimum,” Grupo Modelo said.

Grupo Modelo is part of the Anheuser-Busch InBev group and operates 11 breweries in Mexico.