Shipments of beer and related drinks fell 1.2 percent in the first half to a record low of 196.85 million cases compared with the previous year, largely as a result of wet or chilly weather, data released by the five major breweries said Thursday.
It's the second year in a row that shipments have fallen in January-June. The drop was attributed to an influx of several new "third category" products, such as Sapporo Breweries Ltd.'s Sapporo Goku Zero, that hit stores the year before.
The terms "beerlike" and "third category" refer to brewed products with low or no malt content that were invented to avoid the higher tax on beer.
The number of cases shipped in the six-month period was the smallest since 1992 — the first year for which comparable data are available.
In June, shipments slipped 6.5 percent, logging the third monthly fall in row, as shipments of third-category quasi-beer slid 9.5 percent.
This was partly due to Sapporo's decision to change the classification of its popular Sapporo Goku Zero from third category to "sparkling liquor," and to stop shipping it in mid-June.