Japan: Beer & beer-like shipments registered a small rise in September 2005

The shipments of beer and beer-like beverages by five Japanese brewers: Kirin Brewery Co., Asahi Breweries Ltd., Suntory Ltd., Orion Breweries Ltd. and Sapporo Breweries Ltd., increased year-on-year by 3.9% in September 2005, Kyodo News communicated on October 13. The increase is the second straight monthly rise for the companies and was attributed to high temperatures in the country.

The shipments for September totaled 42.98 million cases. One case has 12.66 liters, or the equivalent of 20 633-mlliliter bottles.

Real beer shipments slipped by 1.8% for the brewers, to 22.9 million cases. Shipments of happoshu low-malt beer dropped by 22.5%, registering a 14th consecutive month of year-on-year decrease. Third-category beer shipments accounted for 18.6% of total shipments and increased 3.3-fold to 8 million cases in the month.

Japanese breweries have registered positive results in the third-category thanks to lower liquor taxes for the segment.

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