First Rise In Beer Prices Since 1990

[Mulboyne]

[floatr][/floatr]Asahi: Kirin to increase beer prices in February
Kirin Brewery Co. said Wednesday it will raise the price of beer products by 5 yen to 10 yen due to skyrocketing costs of raw materials, such as aluminum and imported malt. The price increases, starting in February 2008, will also cover happoshu low-malt beer and so-called third-beer. It will be the first price increase for beer since March 1990, with the exception of tax hikes. Since beer is sold under an open pricing system, the price hikes will translate into increases of about 3 to 5 percent at stores. Rivals of Kirin, the leading brewery in Japan, are also considering raising their prices...more...

[Buraku]

fuck there goes the local consumer economy

and oil hitting 90 dollars per barrel

[Iraira]

This could be the start of a glorious revolution in Japan. Some sort of Yokohama Bay Beer party, throwing kegs off the bridge...gaijin jumping into the water to save the kegs, Channel Twoers saying we are out of control, black uyoku trucks rolling into Disneyland, castrating Mickey for cuddling up with so many J-girls. Take away a man's (or a woman's) sudsy pleasure, and all mankind has is revolution to forment. This new tax doesn't apply to rape and tentacle porn does it?

[Greji]

fuck there goes the local consumer economy

and oil hitting 90 dollars per barrel

Not as dire! I don't drink oil!

[dimwit]

Christ do they even sell beer in Japan anymore? When I go past the local shop I'd estimate that 90% of the stuff they sell is as fake as an AV actress's tits. An price increase will help finish off he beer industry.

[L S]

From Times Online

A surge in the price of wheat, barley and sea freight has forced Japan to order an unprecedented 55 billion yen (£231 million) emergency budget increase to secure the nation’s food supply.
Analysts have given warning that Japan – along with the rest of the world - should expect the present extreme market conditions to become the norm. With wheat prices surging by a record 80 per cent between May and September, Japan discovered yesterday that its Y203 billion wheat and barley budget had run out with two months remaining.
For the first time in the postwar era, the Government has been forced to tap emergency budget reserves to keep Japan’s noodle-makers, bakeries and breweries running. Notices have begun to appear in shops apologising to customers for the unexpected price increases in everything from croissants to mayonnaise. At an upmarket bakery located beneath the offices of Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers in central Tokyo, a new sign blames the 4 per cent increase in the price of a baguette on a “worldwide raw-material drain”.
A Ministry of Agriculture official said that the tapping of Y55 billion from the budget reserves would assure supplies for the rest of the year, but noted that the exercise would prompt a significant revision of what it costs to feed Japan. The Government plans to earmark about Y300 billion next year to secure its supply of about 5 million tonnes of wheat and 270,000 tonnes of barley.
The sharp rise in wheat prices comes after a poor harvest in Aus-tralia – one of the three leading exporters of the grain to Japan – and after what one commodities analyst in Macquarie Securities said were structural changes to the price cycle of wheat. Global stockpiles have dwindled to 32-year lows and continue to decline as the economies of India and China expand, millions of their people emerge from poverty and appetites become more diversified.
Wheat and barley prices have also been squeezed higher by the new global emphasis on bio-fuels as an alternative source of energy for cars. Because demand for ethanol has raised the price of maize, farmers have been growing more of that crop instead of wheat and barley.
Looming over all of this is the recent record cost of moving goods by sea, a critical concern for Japan, which has nervously watched the London-based Baltic Dry Index of bulk shipping rates climb in the past month. Because the country relies on imports for 90 per cent of its wheat for human consumption and 70 per cent of its food-use barley, the Government traditionally has been a monopoly buyer. Bulk consumers, such as food companies and breweries, then buy their supply from the state.
Kirin, the largest Japanese brewer, has said that it will raise beer prices for the first time in 17 years to accommodate the surging barley price and the cost of aluminium for its cans.

[IkemenTommy]

Rivals of Kirin, the leading brewery in Japan, are also considering raising their prices...more...

Sounds to me like the beer industry here is a gigantic yakuza cartel helping each other with the scheme.

[Greji]

Sounds to me like the beer industry here is a gigantic yakuza cartel helping each other with the scheme.

J-Business management 101. If we all dango it and up the prices, there ain't a damn thing the slugs in pubs can do about it!

[Behan]

Wow, someone sent me an email with a heavy drinking goat in it. Although my friend mistook it for a baby deer, I'm sure it's a goat. Check out the red eyes. Asahi Super Dry will do it to you every time.

[GuyJean]

I didn't sign over the rights for you to use my picture, Mulboyne.. I'm suing to pay for my beer consumption..

GJ

[Greji]

Wow, someone sent me an email with a heavy drinking goat in it. Although my friend mistook it for a baby deer, I'm sure it's a goat. Check out the red eyes. Asahi Super Dry will do it to you every time.

Ahh, you wouldn't have a current location on that babe, would ya?

[Mulboyne]

Izakaya chain Watami has announced it will reduce beer prices in its restaurants by 13-17% from the 9th February. A mid-sized glass of Suntory Malts will now go from 481 yen to 418 yen. Last March, the price was raised to 481 yen from 441 yen so the price cut more than offsets the previous hike. A similar glass of Premium Malts will go from 628 yen to 523 yen.

[Sentakki Fried Chicken]

Izakaya chain Watami has announced it will reduce beer prices in its restaurants by 13-17% from the 9th February. A mid-sized glass of Suntory Malts will now go from 481 yen to 418 yen. Last March, the price was raised to 481 yen from 441 yen so the price cut more than offsets the previous hike. A similar glass of Premium Malts will go from 628 yen to 523 yen.

They would need to pay me those prices to get me to drink Malts. Worst beer ever!

[omae mona]

They would need to pay me those prices to get me to drink Malts. Worst beer ever!

I kind of like the Premium Malts that they started selling last year and have some in my fridge, as a matter of fact. Fine, you can make fun of me if you want.

[IkemenTommy]

They would need to pay me those prices to get me to drink Malts. Worst beer ever!

Every time I go on a beer run, it's usually a toss up between Asahi SD or any one of the Kirin Ichiban offerings. Once in a blue moon I go for Sapporo or Ebisu but never, ever Suntory Malts. Why? It always seems like the cheap izakaya joints carry the Malts.

To me, Malts is like the last stop before crossing over to the Happoshu wonderland.

[omae mona]

I agree the regular Malts is pretty lousy. But have you guys actually tasted the new Premium Malts (mentioned in the Japan's Best Tasting Beer thread)?

[Sentakki Fried Chicken]

I agree the regular Malts is pretty lousy. But have you guys actually tasted the new Premium Malts (mentioned in the Japan's Best Tasting Beer thread)?

You deserve a medal for bravery!
I remember in about 1995 or 1996 when Suntory had a competition to give warm-up jackets for the Malts All-Stars, who were a team of gaijin suketto baseball legends including Warren Cromartie and Randy Bass.
I wanted one of those jackets really bad and bought case after case of Malts to get the coupons to apply to the contest.
Well, not only did I not win, I'm still trying to wash the foul taste out of my mouth now, more than a dozen years later.

[Gilligan]

I agree the regular Malts is pretty lousy. But have you guys actually tasted the new Premium Malts (mentioned in the Japan's Best Tasting Beer thread)?

I'm with you on the Premium Malts, excellent beer.

[kusai Jijii]

Gill,
since introducing me to the delights of Samuel Adams in that shithole of a town Nagoya, my opinion of your beer appreciation skills has gone up. Nevertheless, you still drink ichiban shibori, so you've plenty to learn yet. Keep you eyes and ears open when you hook up with the Master in Kyoto in March.
Until then, swill on my good man.

[Doctor Stop]

It always seems like the cheap izakaya joints carry the Malts. To me, Malts is like the last stop before crossing over to the Happoshu wonderland.

Malts is okay and it's the cheapest canned beers at my supermarket because Suntory didn't raise their prices when the other big breweries did. They use 100% barley malt, which neither Kirin and Asahi do. I find that the cheap izakaya usually have Asahi Super Dry, which I can't stand. Asahi Premium is good though.

Don't believe me?

Suntory Malts (B):
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/865/4016

Asahi Super Dry (C-)
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/716/2779

[GuyJean]

.. (mentioned in the Japan's Best Tasting Beer thread)?

I stand by my 'Oh!La!Ho' posted in this thread:

Japanese Beer "Not Bad"

GJ