Japan: Overall beer and beer-like drinks shipments increased the first time in 4 months

In April 2005 overall shipments of beer and beer-like alcoholic beverages from the five major Japan’s breweries increased by 3.3 % to 46.77 million cases (5.92 million hl) compared to April 2004. This is the first increase in the last four months and is attributed to “third-category” beer shipments sharp rise, Kyodo News posted on April 16. One case holds 12.66 litres.

The market share of conventional beer was 51.8 %, and happoshu 28.7 %. Shipments of conventional beer decreased by 7.3 % to 24.25 million cases, and "happoshu" low malt beer fell by 21.6 % to 13.43 million cases.

Beer-like alcoholic beverages, or malt-free beer-like, called third-category beer, increased almost 4.6 times in April 2005 compared to April 2004 to 9.09 million cases. The market share of the beer-like drink came to a record-high 19.4 %.

The increase came as Kirin and Asahi newly entered the market in which Sapporo and Suntory already had products. Asahi, which released Shin-nama on April 20, said it shipped 2.7 million cases for the month, A case contains 20 633-ml bottles.

The new brews, often referred to as the "third beer" after low-malt "happoshu," enjoy lower liquor taxes because they don't contain malt, one of the main ingredients in beverages classified as beer. Kirin and Asahi use soy protein instead of malt.

The April shipment data showed a further shift in the companies' production toward lower-tax products such as third-category beer as the government is seen ready to review liquor taxes. It is likely that third-category beer will come under growing pressure for higher taxes.