Japan: All four leading brewers see sales drop in November

Four major Japanese brewers saw their domestic sales of beer and beer-like products fall by between 3 pct and 7 pct in volume in November from a year before, their data showed on December 11.

There was a lingering impact from the Oct. 1 consumption tax increase, but the size of the sales declines was smaller than in October.

Kirin Brewery Co. posted a sales drop of 7 pct. Sales by Asahi Breweries Ltd. decreased 6 pct. Sapporo Breweries Ltd.'s sales fell 5 pct. Suntory Beer Ltd. had a 3 pct sales decline.

Sales of mainstay brands remained particularly weak apparently because consumers stocked them up before the tax was raised from 8 pct to 10 pct.

But the breweries see the impact of the tax increase milder than that seen when the tax was previously raised in April 2014, from 5 pct to 8 pct. "Sales have not been bad in December," a company official said.

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