The country's top-selling newspaper said some stores were selling off canned beer stocks for a price that amounted to 6.6 litres per euro (dollar), a tiny fraction of the normal cost.

"Beer price war!" wrote Berlin's B.Z. tabloid on the weekend. "Discounters are chucking out everything they've got. At this rate beer will be given away for free by Christmas."

Retailers have warned, however, drinkers could face their worst nightmare - a beer shortage - in January.

The government is imposing charges on non-reusable cans and bottles - 25 cents for small ones and 50 cents for larger ones - because the percentage of recycled cans and bottles has fallen below a 72 percent minimum target set in 1997.

Drinkers will have to bring their empties back to the shop to get their deposits. But shops say they don't have any room to store the empty cans and bottles, so are selling their stocks now at discount prices.

The new charges are meant to counter a trend towards non-reusable containers. Environmentalists say they will help clear three billion cans and bottles off the streets.

Germany is the world's top beer producer with some 1,200 breweries nationwide churning out 53 million hectolitres a year. Germans drink on average a third of a litre of beer a day each.