According to data released by Japan’s major brewers, sales of beer and happoshu, the Japanese low-malt beer, fell by 7.7% in the first half of 2003 to 3.03m kilolitres.
The statistics, based on a survey carried out by Kirin, Suntory, Asahi, Sapporo and Orion, showed the biggest drop since 1992 when the companies began jointly monitoring the market.
Sales of happoshu, for which excise tax was raised in May 2003, fell by 2%.
In terms of market share, Asahi remained the market leader according to the latest data, with 39.3%, followed by Kirin with 35.8%, Sapporo with 13.3% and Suntory with 10.9%.
