Japan: Asahi Breweries to stop disclosing sales volume data

Asahi Breweries Ltd. said on December 17 that it will stop releasing monthly sales volume data for its beer and quasi-beer products this month, switching to the disclosure of the value of sales from January, Nippon.com reported.

The major Japanese beer maker is apparently intending to put more emphasis on boosting its profitability while moving out of the race for market share in terms of volume.

Some sources say Asahi Breweries, which has ranked top in the Japanese beer and quasi-beer market for nine straight years through 2018 but has recently been facing a sales slump, may be attempting to prevent its possible loss of the No. 1 status from being publicly known at a time when second-ranking Kirin Brewery Co. is rapidly catching up with the industry leader.

"We've pursued volume for a long time, but now need to change the mindset of our employees to maintain profits," Asahi Breweries President Kenichi Shiozawa said at a press conference in Tokyo.

Specifically, Asahi Breweries will end the announcement of year-on-year percent changes in sales volumes for each of beer, "happoshu" low-malt quasi-beer and so-called third-segment beverages with little or no malt content, and instead will start to disclose year-on-year rates of change in the value of combined beer and quasi-beer sales.