Search

This Beverage from Japan is the Rising Star Overseas

This Beverage from Japan is the Rising Star Overseas
Sake © Modern Farmer

Japanese sake exports are on the rise thanks to a global boom in the country's cuisine, with the rice wine becoming a more important ingredient in Japan's agricultural exports.

The value of the nation's sake exports rose 10% in 2016 to 15.5 billion yen ($137 million), marking a record level for the seventh straight year.

The exports have been driven by the popularity of Japanese restaurants abroad, which as of the summer of 2015, numbered at around 89,000 locations. Naturally diners at a sushi restaurant are inclined to accompany their meal with Japanese sake.

Ota Sake Brewery in Mie Prefecture, for example, exported around 9,000 liters of sake in fiscal 2015, a 40% increase over the last two years. The sake is sold at department stores and Japanese restaurants in such places as Shanghai and Hong Kong for two or three times the prices it fetches at home. "It's growing popular among middle and upper classes," notes a brewery official.

Bottles of sake can fetch much higher prices abroad than at home. Image: Nikkei
Bottles of sake can fetch much higher prices abroad than at home. Image: Nikkei

 

Nanbu Bijin Brewery in Iwate Prefecture benefited from its advertising blitz at Japanese restaurants in the U.S., seeing its value of exports in fiscal 2015 rising to 100 million yen, a 30% increase from fiscal 2013.

And because the export figures do not include bottles that are brought home as souvenirs by tourists, many believe that the figures understate the prevalence of sake abroad. The government and ruling parties have even included a tax exemption on purchases by foreign visitors at wineries and breweries in a tax overhaul package for fiscal 2017.

As sake exports increase, harvests of the rice best suited to make it have as well. As consumption of rice for eating continues to decline, a new source of demand can be seen.

 

 


Source :

Indah Gilang Pusparani

Indah is a researcher at Badan Perencanaan Pembangunan Penelitian dan Pengembangan Daerah Kota Cirebon (Regional Development Planning and Research Agency of Cirebon Municipality). She covers More international relations, tourism, and startups in Southeast Asia region and beyond. Indah graduated from MSc Development Administration and Planning from University College London, United Kingdom in 2015. She finished bachelor degree from International Relations from University of Indonesia in 2014, with two exchange programs in Political Science at National University of Singapore and New Media in Journalism at Ball State University, USA. She was awarded Diplomacy Award at Harvard World Model United Nations and named as Indonesian Gifted Researcher by Australian National University. She is Researcher at Regional Planning Board in Cirebon, West Java. She previously worked as Editor in Bening Communication, the Commonwealth Parliament Association UK, and diplomacy consulting firm Best Delegate LLC in USA. Less
View all posts

Thank you for reading until here