Shares in Japanese beermaker Asahi jump after it announces price hikes (updated)

Suntory Beverage & Food

27/04/2022 07:16

(Updates shares in 4th paragraph; Suntory clarifies 2020 price
increases were for beer and wine in 6th paragraph.)
    TOKYO, April 27 (Reuters) - Shares in Asahi Group Holdings
 2502.T  surged on Wednesday after the Japanese beermaker
announced its first price increases for canned beer in 14 years
and a range of other price hikes to cope with rising costs.
    Retail prices on 162 items, mostly beer products, will rise
between 6% and 10% from Oct. 1, reflecting increasing costs for
materials, energy and transportation, it said on Tuesday after
the market closed.
    After decades of deflation in Japan, consumer price
pressures have mounted as the cost of fuel and other commodities
soar in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and due to
logistical snags caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
    Asahi's stock climbed 4.3%, outperforming a 1.2% drop in the
benchmark Nikkei index  .N225 . 
    Rivals Kirin Holdings Co  2503.T  and Sapporo Holdings Ltd
 2501.T  said on Wednesday they are also considering price
increases but have not made a decision yet.
    A Suntory Holdings Ltd spokesperson said the company had no
comment, noting the company's last price changes for its beer
and wine products were in October 2020.
    Asahi is Japan's biggest beer maker, commanding nearly 40%
of the market.

 (Reporting by Rocky Swift and Ritsuko Shimizu; Editing by
Edwina Gibbs)
 ((rocky.swift@thomsonreuters.com))