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Japan: Asahi seeking foreign partners

Japan’s biggest brewer Asahi has set out plans to significantly increase its overseas business over the next six years in response to plummeting profits and a stagnant domestic market.

By 2015 Asahi wants to have upped its foreign business’s share of overall income to between 20 and 30% and is seeking foreign partners for licensing and sales rights deals for its Super Dry brand, said the firm in a statement.

The group has set itself the ambitious target of “joining the ranks of the top global food companies by size” and upping sales to between 2 and ¥2.5 trillion (approximately $28 billion) by 2015, from an anticipated ¥1.5 trillion this year.

In Japan, Asahi has pledged to “intensively allocate resources” to improving the market position of its Super Dry and Clear brands whilst upping profitability of the faltering beer business.

Asahi will continue to invest in its soft drinks and food business at home and abroad. In China Asahi has said it will work closely with its partner Tsingtao to set up joint procurement and production outsourcing to increase profitability.

The group is going head-to-head with rival Kirin in a race for the top spot in Japan's mature beer market. But if on-going merger talks between Kirin and Suntory bear fruit, the newly merged giant would dwarf Asahi with combined sales of around $41 billion.

Based on the following sources: http://www.brewersguardian.com/