Japan: Asahi volumes slide 12.5%

Super Dry: 6.25 million cases sold in Feb

February total domestic beer down 11.6%

Japan’s largest brewer Asahi suffered another dire month in February with domestic beer volumes sliding 11.6%, year-on-year.

In a monthly sales update the brewer said total volumes, including low-malt Happoshu and so-called ‘new genre’ drinks, declined by 12.5% in February to 1.27 million hectolitres.

In February 6.25 million cases of flagship brand Asahi Super Dry were sold, a decline of 11.3%. Happoshu volumes slid 20.7% to 1.4 million cases while new genre drinks volumes fell by 9.4% to 2.2 million cases.

As the Japanese beer market continues to decline as the population ages and tastes change, the country’s brewers are increasingly looking abroad and to new product developments to generate growth.

In January Kyodo News reported that beer sales had it an all-time low. For the first time in history sales of new genre products - based on a range of materials including soy, pea protein and corn – are expected to exceed beer sales this year.

The country’s largest brewers are preparing to launch new products that appeal to changing tastes and are less heavily taxed by Japan’s malt-based duty system. Asahi is preparing to launch Strong Off, a 7% abv low-carb drink.