Japan: Kirin stays ahead of Asahi in beer shipments in January-March

Kirin Brewery Co. barely remained ahead of Asahi Breweries Ltd. in terms of beer shipments in the January-March period, according to data released Wednesday by the nation's top five beer producers, Kyodo News International reported April 11.

Asahi, however, closed in on Kirin by raising its market share to 37.1 percent while Kirin's share was 37.5 percent, according to the data.

The close race between the two firms is expected to continue. Asahi came top in the shipment rankings for the six years through 2006 on a calendar-year basis. Kirin shipped 36.50 million cases in the January-March quarter. One case contains 20 633-milliliter bottles.

Kirin’s total of beer and beer-like shipments dipped 2.2 percent year on year with the sales of low-malt, "happoshu" beer and beer-like, so-called third-category products losing steam. But regular beer sales rose thanks to the release of a new product in March.

Shipments by Asahi climbed 3.2 percent to 36.05 million cases because sales of its happoshu and third-category beer began picking up last September. As a result, the difference between the market shares of Kirin and Asahi narrowed by 2.0 percentage points from a year earlier to 0.4 percentage point.

Sapporo Breweries Ltd. came third with a 13.1 percent market share, followed by Suntory Ltd. at 11.4 percent and Orion Breweries Ltd. at 0.9 percent.

The total shipments by the five companies edged up 0.1 percent to 97.26 million cases thanks in part to the warm winter weather.