Japan: Beer shipments drop 0.7% in Q1

Japan’s beer and quasi-beer shipments in January-March dropped 0.7 percent from a year earlier to 80,148,000 cases, hitting a record low for the quarter for the third straight year, data from major brewers showed on April 12.

Each case contains the equivalent of 20 633-milliliter bottles.

Consumers choose canned “chuhai” spirits-based drinks and wine over beer and quasi-beer products increasingly more often, reflecting their diversified preferences and budget-mindedness, industry people said.

In addition, the quarter this year had one fewer day than in 2016, a leap year.

Beer shipments decreased 1.3 percent to 38,838,000 cases, down for the third year in a row.

Shipments of “happoshu” low-malt quasi-beer shrank 0.8 percent to 11,601,000 cases.

Meanwhile, shipments of so-called third-segment beverages, priced lower than beer and happoshu due to a lower tax rate, rose 0.2 percent to 29,709,000 cases, the first advance in three years, led by Asahi Breweries Ltd.’s Clear Asahi.Speech