Japan, Tokyo: Combined shipments of beer and "happoshu" low-malt beer by Japan's five top brewers in April slipped 9.1% from a year ago for the fourth monthly year-on-year fall, according to reports by the five brewers released May 17. Beer and happoshu shipments by Kirin Brewery Co, Asahi Breweries Ltd, Sapporo Holdings Ltd, Suntory Ltd and Orion Breweries Ltd totaled 43.29 million cases in April, according to Kyodo News.

The volume of beer shipped by the top-five Japanese breweries for April rose 6.1 % year-on-year to 331,171 thousand litres, the first increase in two months, the Brewers Association of Japan (BAJ) said. In the January-April period, beer shipments fell 0.8 % year-on-year to almost 1.04 billion litres.

The BAJ attributed the increase of shipments for April to good weather, the ongoing economic recovery and active promotion campaigns by beer makers.

Meanwhile, shipments of low-malt liquor by the top-five Japanese breweries for April fell 25.4 percent year-on-year to 216,940 kiloliters, a sister body of the BAJ, focusing on low-malt liquor, said. In the January-April period, shipments low-malt liquor dropped 16.5 percent year-on-year to 693,061 kiloliters. The low-malt industry body attributed the drop in shipments to the tax increase on low-malt liquor.

19 May, 2004