Japan Focus: Asahi's growth plans, Megmilk Snow's sustainability strategy, Vietnam as new export focus and more feature in our round-up

Turbulence not over: Asahi pushes canned beer and healthier innovation as cost pressures heighten​

Asahi has highlighted plans to focus more strongly on its canned beer and healthier innovation businesses as it braces itself for cost pressures in Japan from October.

The firm announced its H1FY2022 financial results earlier this month, reporting an increase of 11.4% year-on-year in revenue to hit JPY1.15tn (US$8.42bn) and a 1.9% increase in profit to hit JPY91bn (US$666mn).

The firm credited its positive results to its on-premise (40+% growth) and canned beer (26% growth) businesses in Japan, as well as craft beer (8% growth) in Australia, but acknowledged that there are still multiple cost increases affecting its global supply chain.

Post-COVID-19 competitiveness: Japan’s Megmilk Snow’s sustainability-focused business plan gets government nod​

Megmilk Snow has obtained approval from the Japanese government to implement its new sustainability-focused business plan, with completion targeted for 2025.

Megmilk Snow designed a new business adaptation plan based on the principles of the updated Industrial Competitiveness Enhancement Act last year and submitted this to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) for approval, which was recently granted in August 2022.

Expanding exports: Japan eyes Vietnam as latest major hotspot for food products​

Japan has set its sights on Vietnam as a potential major destination for its food exports and has set up a specialised export platform in the country to back existing and would-be traders.

The government hopes to achieve an export target value of JPY2tn (US$14.4bn) by 2025 and JPY5tn (US$36.1bn) by 2030. In addition to helping local businesses become more independently export-ready, it has also been taking a market-by-market approach to expanding Japanese exports, and has been slowly establishing export support platforms in various markets of interest – the most recent now being Ho Chi Minh.

‘Memory care’: Megmilk Snow Brand, Kirin co-develop functional drink for Japan’s ageing market​

Japan dairy company Megmilk Snow Brand has launched a ‘memory care’ Foods with Function Claims (FFC) in Japan that was jointly developed with Kirin.

The 100ml yogurt-flavoured drink contains β-lactolin, a proprietary ingredient from Kirin Brain Research.This is a whey protein-derived peptide which Kirin claims could support the maintenance of memory, and specifically the ability to recall based on clues or prompts, which is an ability that declines with age.

Say cheese: Indonesian brand Mazaraat Artisanal Cheese to quadruple output with second factory​

The Indonesian producer of handmade cheese brand Mazaraat Artisanal Cheese plans to quadruple its daily output by building a second factory and subsequently entering more Asia Pacific markets.

With the increased output, he intends to distribute the cheeses to more countries in South East Asia, like Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia, in 2023, and Japan and beyond by 2024.