Japan: Asahi aims for full system recovery in February

Asahi Group Holdings Ltd. has told business partners that it aims to fully recover as early as February from a system failure that disrupted shipments of beer and other products, it was learned on November 21.

The company plans to hold a press conference on Thursday to explain its system recovery plan and the results of its probe into the system failure, which was caused by a ransomware attack on Sept. 29.

At the press conference, Asahi Group President Atsushi Katsuki will speak about the system failure in public for the first time.

The system failure forced the beverage group to halt production and shipments of beer and other goods at most of its domestic plants. The group is still processing orders manually.

Meanwhile, other makers in the industry have been struggling to keep up with demand for substitute items to replace Asahi products. Some have canceled sales of year-end gift beer sets.