Japanese brewer Suntory is to buy Foster’s brewery in Shanghai together with its local brands in a deal analysts believe could be worth US$17.4 million, the Financial Times reported. This would see Suntory overtake Asahi as the leading Japanese beer maker in China, with an annual output of 800,000 kiloliters to its rival’s 770,000 kiloliters. It would also allow the company to consolidate its position at the head of Shanghai’s beer market, taking its local market share from 54% to 60%. Japanese brewers are keen to enter the China due to a decline in their domestic market. For Foster’s, it marks the end of a China experience that began in 1994 and is believed to have incurred losses of up to US$110 million.
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