Japan: Kirin Brewery Co Ltd, Japan's biggest brewer, aims to more than double overseas sales by 2010 by buying foreign breweries, Kazuyasu Kato, the company's managing director said. "Asia has been the focus of our overseas expansion," Kato told Bloomberg Television in Tokyo. "We have acquired breweries with solid shares of the local market. We will try to more than double our overseas sales by 2010."

Kirin's overseas sales were 114 billion yen (US$1 billion), or 15 per cent of total sales, in the first half ending June 30, compared with 101 billion yen (US$89 billion), or 13.8 per cent, a year earlier, reported China Daily.

Japanese breweries such as Kirin and Asahi Breweries Ltd, the nation's second largest, are expanding overseas and diversifying alcoholic and non-alcoholic products to attract more consumers, amid shrinking domestic demand for regular and low-malt beer. Kirin plans to spend 100 billion yen (US$88 billion) by December 2006 on overseas mergers and acquisitions.

Shipments of regular and low-malt beer by Japan's five largest brewers declined 6.4 per cent to 224.30 million cases in the first half from the previous year, according to the Brewers Association of Japan and the Brewers Council of Happoushu Taxation. Kato said domestic demand for beer is in decline, although shipments rose 9 per cent in July amid hotter-than-usual summer temperatures.

08 September, 2004