{"id":3971,"date":"2026-10-07T16:23:44","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T16:23:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.cedritech.com\/?p=3971"},"modified":"2026-10-07T16:23:44","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T16:23:44","slug":"japan-beer-giants-raided-over-alleged-price-fixing-cartel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.cedritech.com\/?p=3971","title":{"rendered":"Japan beer giants raided over alleged price-fixing cartel"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Japanese officials have raided the country’s biggest beer makers over allegations they worked together to raise the price of their beverages.<\/p>\n

Asahi, Kirin and Suntory Spirits confirmed to the BBC their premises had been searched by the Japan Fair Trade Commission, adding that they would fully cooperate with the government authority.<\/p>\n

There are reports Sapporo Breweries was also raided. The firm has been contacted for comment.<\/p>\n

Asahi, Kirin and Sapporo all saw their share price fall after news of the investigation broke on Wednesday. Suntory is not publicly-listed.<\/p>\n

According to the Japan Times, the investigation centres on the companies raising their prices in April last year and in October 2022.<\/p>\n

All four companies announced increases, citing the rising cost of raw materials as well as other factors such as energy and transportation.<\/p>\n

Kirin Holdings said its subsidiary, Kirin Brewery Company, was searched “on suspicion of a violation of the Antimonopoly Act”.<\/p>\n

It said it takes the matter “very seriously”, adding it would “fully cooperate with the Japan Fair Trade Commission’s investigation and any requests for cooperation”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Kirin Holdings said: “At present, the impact of this matter on the company’s financial results has not been determined. The company will promptly disclose any material developments as they arise.”<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Suntory confirmed “an on-site inspection” had taken place “in connection with a potential violation of Japan’s Antimonopoly Act relating to domestic alcohol trade practices”.<\/p>\n

The company said: “We sincerely apologise for any concern or inconvenience this situation may cause to our customers, business partners, and other stakeholders. We will cooperate fully with the JFTC’s investigation.”<\/p>\n

Asahi Breweries said it was “subject to investigation by the Japan Fair Trade Commission”. It added: “We will fully cooperate with the commission.”<\/p>\n

The Japan Fair Trade Commission has been contacted for comment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Japanese officials have raided the country’s biggest beer makers over allegations they worked together to raise the price<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":3972,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-japan"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cedritech.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cedritech.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cedritech.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cedritech.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cedritech.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3971"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cedritech.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3971\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3973,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cedritech.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3971\/revisions\/3973"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cedritech.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cedritech.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cedritech.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cedritech.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}