The nation's major breweries on Friday reported weak beer sales for the first half of the year, with the economic slump, tax hikes and diversifying consumer taste conspiring to sap demand.
Kirin Brewery Co., one of three breweries that announced six-month results, said it revised down its full-year earnings outlook to 33 billion yen from the initial 39 billion yen.
Yoshikazu Arai, Kirin's managing director, said the May tax hike on low-malt "happoshu" dealt a heavy blow to the firm's first half sales, with the unseasonably cool July weather likely to exacerbate its predicament through the rest of the year.