Tokyo, May 20 - Japanese brewer Suntory Ltd grabbed the No. 3 spot in domestic shipments from rival Sapporo Holdings Ltd last month, according to an industry source, in a surprising turn of events following Sapporo's price hike.
The industry source also said that Suntory likely ranked third for the year through to April, and that if it holds onto this position for the first half it would be the first time it has done so using the current set of official records that began in 1992.
While the fight for top spot in the world's sixth-largest beer-consuming country has long been fierce, with Kirin Holdings Co and Asahi Breweries Ltd each controlling about 38 percent of the market, the No.3 spot has until recently not been so hotly contested.
But Suntory has been gaining share, helped by the popularity of its upmarket "Premium Malt's" and "Kin Mugi" brand of no-malt beer, in addition to the impact of Sapporo's price hike.
At the end of 2007, Suntory's share of the market stood at 11.0 percent against 12.5 percent for Sapporo. Suntory closed the gap by gaining 12.8 percent share in the January-March period during while Sapporo held 13.3 percent.
Suntory then managed to boost shipments by 8 percent in April to put it ahead of Sapporo, which saw its sales tumble in the same month after it hiked prices to cope with soaring raw materials costs, according to the industry source.
Overall shipments from Japan's top five brewers fell 5 percent in April from a year earlier.
The source declined to be identified because market share data is not officially released on a monthly basis.
Mizuho Investors Securities' investment information manager Teruhisa Ishikawa said that amid economic uncertainty and rising food prices, Suntory's current price advantage was working to its favour.
But he noted that Suntory planned to raise prices in September.
"Maybe it's a temporary thing and we might see a change again when Suntory raises products prices," he added.