Japan Focus: Asahi’s premiumisation and packaging strategies, Ajinomoto’s sustainability agenda, Kirin’s beer consumption data and more
‘Staying the course’: Asahi pledges premiumisation priority despite ‘challenging environment’
Japanese brewery giant will focus on driving its premiumisation strategy in 2023, in hopes of delivering long-term sustainable growth despite the pressures of inflationary costs.
Asahi published its FY2022 full-year financial results earlier this month, announcing an overall 8% growth in revenue to hit JPY2.51tn (US$25.1bn), and 5.9% growth in profits to hit JPY243.8bn (US$2.44bn).
These positive growth numbers were attributed by the firm to the implementation of its premiumisation strategy and performance of its international markets.
‘Bad cholesterol’ linked to high bread and low rice dietary pattern for Japanese – Cohort study
To assess the relationship between dietary patterns and serum low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, so-called ‘bad cholesterol’ by the general Japanese population, a multi-institutional collaborative cohort study was conducted.
Japanese researchers found that the ‘high bread and low rice’ dietary pattern leads to higher serum LDL cholesterol for both sexes, while the ‘high confectioneries and low alcohol’ diet did the same only for men.
Festive fanfare: Asahi Super Dry pushes striking packaging as key touchpoint to connect with consumers in APAC region
Product packaging is important to both relay information and capture consumer attention in normal times, but when it comes to festivals that involve large-volume sales for family gatherings, being able to stand out on-shelf becomes all the more important.
This is according to Asahi Super Dry, which fused Japanese and Chinese festive themes in its recent limited edition Chinese New Year launch, targeting markets that celebrate this festival in a big way, namely China, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia.
In line with the health trends observed by the brand, plans to launch a non-alcoholic option of its super dry brew in Asia later this year are in the pipeline.
‘New logic’: Ajinomoto says localisation and innovation key to drive sustainability agenda
Japan food heavyweight Ajinomoto has highlighted localisation and innovation as key pillars of its sustainability strategy in the firm’s recently published 2022 Sustainability Advisory Council Report, with its leaders pledging to take a ‘fundamentally different’ path from other MNCs.
Ajinomoto established a Sustainability Advisory Council (SAC) as a subordinate body of its board of directors in April 2021, taking great care to include experts from various fields including academia, nutrition, public health, developing markets and more.
Booze boost: New Kirin data reveals China domination of global beer consumption rankings
According to Kirin’s latest Global Beer Consumption Report covering findings from 2021 about beer consumption in 170 major markets worldwide, China has emerged as the largest beer-consuming country in the year with a total of 38.1bn litres, taking up 20.5% of the global market share.
This is significant as China was not only the largest global consumer of beer, but also one of the only major Asian markets to see an increase in consumption — by 5.6% — amidst a general downturn in consumption in many other regional markets.
