Japan: Beer shipments for July register a drop

Shipments of beer and beer-like alcoholic sparkling drinks by five major Japanese brewers decreased in July 2005 from 2004, despite a jump in so-called "third-category beer" products, according to Asia industry data released on August 10. Total shipments by Kirin Brewery Co., Asahi Breweries Ltd., Suntory Ltd., Orion Breweries Ltd. and Sapporo Breweries Ltd. slipped 11.5 percent to 50.36 million cases. One case has 12.66 liters, or the equivalent of 20 633-milliliter bottles.

The July shipment data showed an apparent shift in the brewers' production toward lower-tax products such as third-category beer as the government appears ready to push up liquor taxes.

The fall was partly in response to the previous year's scorching summer, which had bolstered the consumption of beer and beer-like drinks, an industry official said. Shipments of beer-like sparkling alcoholic drinks, called third-category beer, more than tripled over the previous year to 9.04 million cases. They had an 18.0 percent market share.

Shipments of conventional beer declined 16.3 percent to 29.27 million cases, while those of "happoshu" low-malt beer dived 36.5 percent to 12.04 million cases. Conventional beer had 58.1 percent of the market, and happoshu 23.9 percent.

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