Japan: Malt imports by Japan in 2004/05 remain forecast at 0.66 million tonnes by IGC, a slight decrease from last year. Malt demand has been declining due to economic conditions and lower sales of full malt beer. Beer sales in Japan were reported down 3.3% from January to October 2004. Although malt imports are forecast to decline, the expected year on year reduction is not as sharp as was seen in 2002/03 when imports fell by 70,000 tonnes. Since then, the annual decline has steadied at around 20,000 tonnes per year.

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