The tax hike introduced in May on happoshu appears to have had an effect, with shipments of the low-malt beer falling by 30.2% in May from May 2002. This was the first monthly year-on-year decline recorded for three months.
Beer shipments fell by 8.4% to 328,739 kilolitres, the 38th consecutive monthly decline.
Total combined shipments of beer and happoshu fell by 17.0% to 491,724 kilolitres, following the first monthly rise in eight months in April.
