Japanese beer market down 9 percent in 2020

Japan | Brewer Kirin is estimated to have ranked top in sales of beer and beer-like drinks in 2020, overtaking rival Asahi for the first time in eleven years, the website mainichi.jp reports.

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Kirin’s probe into Myanmar beer venture “inconclusive”

Myanmar | Kirin should publish its investigation report on the military-owned Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd. (MEHL) and swiftly cut ties with the company, Human Rights Watch, an NGO, said in early January.

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Sapporo’s collab beer will go on sale despite spelling error on cans

Japan | Jointly developed by Sapporo and Family Mart, one of Japan’s largest chains of convenience stores, the beer called Kaitakushi Bakushu Shitate, or “Kaitakushi Beer Tailored” and named after the country’s first brewery, was to hit shelves in January 2021.

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ThaiBev eyes USD 2 billion IPO of regional beer assets

Thailand | Thai Beverage (ThaiBev) has revived plans to seek a stock market listing in Singapore in the first half of 2021 for its regional beer assets, including the brewer of Chang beer, in Thailand, and Sabeco, in Vietnam. The initial public offering (IPO) could raise about USD 2 billion, Reuters reports.

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Vietnam beer market could take years to recover

Vietnam | After decades of beer consumption only going up, it suddenly came to a screeching halt in 2020, after the Vietnamese government introduced Decree 100, its drastic anti-drunk driving laws in January. And then came covid-19.

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Korea’s on-premise suffers as punters flog to the supermarkets

Korea | Before covid-19, South Korea was one of the leading markets for booze. Beer and soju were consumed the most. What is more, one in two beers was sold in bars and restaurants. As the pandemic has prevented people from enjoying get-togethers and socialising, the beer market is undergoing a dramatic change.

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Kirin buys minority stake in Indian craft brewer Bira 91

India | The Japanese brewer plans to acquire a stake of slightly under 10 percent in the local craft brewer Bira for about USD 30 million, The Financial Times (FT) reported on 4 January 2021. The deal will be Kirin’s first bet on premium beer in India.

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Report details how Carlsberg, SABMiller and UB fixed beer prices in India

India | Top executives of Carlsberg, SABMiller and India’s United Breweries (UB) exchanged commercially sensitive information and colluded to fix beer prices in India over eleven years, according to a government antitrust investigation released in December 2020.

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Asahi sells online retailer BoozeBud back to founders

Australia | Japan’s Asahi, which bought the country’s leading brewer Carlton & United Breweries (CUB) from AB-InBev in 2020, has sold its leading online alcohol retailer BoozeBud back to the business’ founders.

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China’s wine tariffs will hurt Australia’s vintners

Australia | For several months now, China has been using punitive tariffs in retaliation for criticism from Australia. Now Beijing has targeted Australian wine. Since the end of November, Chinese importers have to pay surcharges of between 107 percent and 212 percent. China’s demand for Australian wine is expected to almost completely collapse.

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Buy Aussie wine!

Australia | More than 200 parliamentarians from 19 countries are calling on people to drink Australian wine in protest against the brutal tariffs slapped on the country by China. The Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) describes itself as a “cross-party group of legislators working towards reform on how democratic countries approach China”.

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Australian breweries in 2020: keeping spirits high

Australia | As can be expected, the coronavirus crisis will have impacted brewers’ sales adversely, but insiders are hard pressed to come up with an estimate. Most likely, beer sales will be down in the mid-single digits in 2020, but the decline will probably hit the Big Brewers harder than the independents.

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Australia’s indie brewers benefit from shift in people’s drinking habits

Australia | 2020 may turn into craft brewing’s “lost year”, but Australian craft brewers remain upbeat. They think they are in a “largely strong” position, heading into the antipodean summer, while building on the trends that have emerged since the pandemic broke out.

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Australia’s Coopers breweries sees sales rise during lockdown

Australia | Adelaide-based Coopers brewery is crediting a consumer trend towards local beer brands, and its shrewd move to more canned products, for a 3.9 percent rise in volume sales in its 2019-20 financial year, ended 30 June.

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Bega Cheese buys Kirin’s Australian dairy arm

Australia | After having offered its underperforming dairy unit to nearly everyone for two years, Japanese brewer Kirin finally found a buyer: On 26 November 2020 media reported that Kirin will sell its Australian beverage and dairy subsidiary to the local dairy company, Bega Cheese, for USD 412 million. 

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Kirin halts payments to its Myanmar partner linked to military

Japan | Japanese beverage group Kirin Holdings said it is halting dividend payments from its beer joint ventures in Myanmar to local partner Myanmar Economic Holdings Public Company (MEHL).

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India is a worry for Carlsberg

India | Carlsberg’s CEO Cees ‘t Hart called India’s market environment “highly uncertain” and “volatile” after posting a 30 percent volume decline in the country, which it blamed on the market struggling socially and economically.

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Beer in Asia: a mixed picture

Asia | For the first nine months of 2020 the world’s leading brewers all reported beer sales to have declined in their Asian markets, albeit to varying degrees. AB-InBev saw the steepest drop: -14.1 percent to 77.6 million hl. Heineken reported a 9.7 percent drop to 20 million hl, whereas Carlsberg saw an 8.5 percent decrease to 28 million hl.

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Coca-Cola European Partners acquires Coca-Cola Amatil

Australia | One day Coca-Cola Amatil (CCA) was in the news over rumours it will buy Asahi’s sell-off brands, the next day it was the target of a takeover offer itself.

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