A rowdy tea party is brewing in the soft drink industry as companies crank up already-intense competition in the rapidly growing market for bottled green tea.
With canned coffee and carbonated drinks showing little growth, and perhaps even a decline, beverage makers have decided to put their future in the hands of the traditional Japanese beverage.
Shipments by the three major makers of bottled green tea are expected to grow about 20 percent over last year, when an unusually hot summer drove the green tea market up 32 percent year-on-year to some 409 billion yen, according to some industry estimates.