The top 20 sake breweries in 2016

by | Jun 5, 2018 | Sake News from Japan

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Not news as such this time, but something I looked into after watching the interview with Takuma Inagawa of Wakaze giving advice to sake brewers who want to export.

A ranking of sake breweries by sales was briefly shown on the screen behind Inagawa and the interviewer, so I tracked down the organisation who produced it, Teikoku Databank, and found their December 2017 report listing the top 20 sake breweries by sales in 2016 (Japanese).

The top 20 sake breweries by sales in Japanese FY 2016 (i.e. April 2016 – March 2017), their main labels/brands, prefecture, change in position from previous year and sales were:

  1. Hakutsuru (Hakutsuru) Hyōgo Prefecture, no change from 2015, JPY 348.08 billion, sales up 0.7% on previous year (month/year of calculation March 2017)
  2. Gekkeikan (Gekkeikan) Kyoto Prefecture, no change from 2015, JPY 273.87 billion, sales up 2.9% on previous year (month/year of calculation March 2017)
  3. Takara Holdings (Sho Chiku Bai) Kyoto Prefecture, no change from 2015, 248.22 billion, sales up 0.3% on previous year (month/year of calculation March 2017)
  4. Ozeki (Ozeki) Hyōgo Prefecture, no change from 2015, JPY 163.76 billion, sales up 2.5% on previous year (month/year of calculation March 2017)
  5. Nihonsakari (Nihonsakari) Hyogo Prefecture, no change from 2015, JPY 147.7 billion, sales up  0.1% on previous year (month/year of calculation March 2017)
  6. Koyama Honke (Kinmon Sekaitaka) Saitama Prefecture, no change from 2015, JPY 113.58 billion, sales up 0.1% on previous year (month/year of calculation September 2016)
  7. Kiku-Masamune (Kiku-Masamune) Hyōgo Prefecture, no change from 2015, JPY 110.18 billion, sales up 1.7% on previous year (month/year of calculation March 2017)
  8. Asahi Shuzō (Dassai) Yamaguchi Prefecture, up from 2015, JPY 108.03 billion, sales up 65.3% on previous year (month/year of calculation September 2016)
  9. Kizakura (Kizakura) Kyoto Prefecture, down from 2015, JPY 100 billion, sales up 2.9% on previous year (month/year of calculation September 2016)
  10. Oenon Holdings (Taisetsu no Kura, Fukutokucho) Kyoto Prefecture, down from 2015, JPY 91.05 billion, sales up 9.8% on previous year (month/year of calculation December 2016)
  11. Asahi Shuzō (Kubota) Niigata Prefecture, down from 2015, JPY 85.89 billion, sales up 3.2% on previous year (month/year of calculation September 2016)
  12. Hakkaisan (Hakkaisan) Niigata Prefecture, up from 2015, JPY 61.69 billion, sales up 4.9% on previous year (month/year of calculation August 2016)
  13. Tatsuuma-Honke (Hakushika) Hyōgo Prefecture, down from 2015, JPY 60.63 billion, sales up 5.1% on previous year (month/year of calculation March 2017)
  14. Kikusui (Kikusui) Niigata Prefecture, up from 2015, JPY 54.42 billion, no change in sales from previous year (month/year of calculation September 2016)
  15. Katō-Kichibē Shoten (Born) Fukui Prefecture, down from 2015, JPY 48.29 billion, no change in sales from previous year (month/year of calculation June 2016)
  16. Kenbishi (Kenbishi) Hyōgo Prefecture, up from 2015, JPY 43 billion, no change in sales from previous year (month/year of calculation March 2017)
  17. Konishi (Shirayuki) Hyōgo Prefecture, no change from 2015, JPY 40.85 billion, sales up 7.4% from previous year (month/year of calculation March 2017)
  18. Sawanotsuru (Sawanotsuru) Hyōgo Prefecture, down from 2015, JPY 39.8 billion, sales up 12.6% from previous year (month/year of calculation March 2017)
  19. Nakano Shuzō (Kunizakari) Aichi Prefecture, no change from 2015, JPY 37 billion, sales up 2.6% from previous year (month/year of calculation June 2016)
  20. Kiyosuzakura Jōzō (Kiyosuzakura) Aichi Prefecture, no change from 2015, JPY 35 billion, sales up 2.8% from previous year (month/year of calculation June 2016)

Some of the dates given are before the end of Japanese FY2016, so I’m assuming the calculation was based on figures from that period. Not all numbers in the last column have up arrows beside them, but as there’s none beside Asahi (Dassai) and the report said their sales jumped I’m assuming they’re all increases.

There’s a lot of interesting information in this report so I will come back to it later!

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