Japan: Domestic sales of the main long-standing beer brands of Japan's four major brewers in 2004 topped year-before levels on a volume basis, officials at the four said Tuesday, January 4, according to Kyodo News. Asahi Breweries Ltd., Kirin Brewery Co., Suntory Ltd. and Sapporo Holdings Ltd. traced the greater sales partly to last summer's unusually high temperatures as well as this winter's higher-than-usual temperatures, both of which helped induce greater consumption.

Improved quality was also behind the greater consumption during the year, according to the officials.

Asahi's sales of its Super Dry brand rose 0.6 % to the equivalent of 147.5 million cases, the first rise in four years, Asahi officials said. One case holds 12.66 liters, or the equivalent of 20 633-milliliter bottles. Asahi also improved the quality of the draft beer version of the Super Dry brand it sells to restaurants, the officials said. The year-on-year growth in the combined sales of Asahi's beer brands was limited to 0.1 percent, however, they said.

Sales of Kirin's Ichiban Shibori brand rose 1 percent, the first increase in a decade, while sales of Suntory's Malts brand rose 3 percent, the first rise in four years. Officials at Sapporo said combined sales of Sapporo beer brands, excluding Ebisu stout, rose 1 percent in terms of volume. The industry has generally adopted a policy of trying to improve the taste and quality of the well-known brands, while putting priority on advertising.

The overall beer market in 2004, however, appears to have suffered a roughly 2 % shrinkage in volume, although sales of these main brands fared well, industry officials said. But the projected shrinkage in 2004 is less than the 10 % dive the industry suffered the previous year, they said. "We have detected signs that the beer market is on the verge of rebounding," an Asahi official said.

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