TOKYO (TR) – Japan’s Fair Trade Commission is increasing its investigation right into a suspected price-fixing cartel orchestrated by the nation’s high 4 beer firms, with new proof suggesting the collusion prolonged to widespread canned chuhai drinks, sources revealed on Saturday, stories the Sankei Shimbun (Oct. 10).
Asahi Beer, Kirin Beer, Suntory, and Sapporo Beer are already underneath heavy scrutiny for allegedly coordinating worth hikes on beer and “third-sector” malt drinks.
However, investigators have now discovered that the businesses additionally uniformly raised costs on “Ready-To-Drink” (RTD) merchandise — a extremely profitable market class that features canned chuhai, highballs, and blended cocktails.
Citing hovering uncooked materials prices, the brewing giants carried out consecutive, simultaneous worth revisions on beer merchandise in October 2022, October 2023, and April 2025.
Crucially, with the only real exception of the October 2023 hike—which was applied to align with nationwide liquor tax revisions that lowered taxes on common beer whereas elevating them on cheaper options—all 4 firms hiked their RTD costs in lockstep with their beer merchandise.
Further fueling suspicions of unlawful collusion, sources point out that at a number of the accused firms, the very same gross sales departments have been chargeable for dealing with each the beer and RTD product strains.
The Fair Trade Commission is now fastidiously scrutinizing the inner operations of the “Big Four” to find out if the alleged cartel immediately manipulated the canned cocktail market.