Popularity of Amazake Drink Keeps Growing

May 9, 2018

Nagoya- The popularity of "amazake," a sweet Japanese drink made from fermented rice, keeps growing, thanks chiefly to brisk demand from beauty- and health-conscious women.

A nonalcoholic type of amazake that children can drink is also popular.

A series of new amazake products have been launched in recent years. With miso and sake makers starting the production of such drinks, competition is intensifying.

Last year, Nagoya-based miso and soy sauce maker Ichibiki Co. launched small packaged amazake products. It added amazake with salty lemon flavor to its product lineup in February this year, aiming for summer demand.

Medicated liquor maker Yomeishu Seizo Co. started selling amazake that contains a beauty component derived from pineapples.

According to confectionery maker Morinaga & Co. <2201>, which has the largest amazake market share, the image of the Japanese drink used to be a winter beverage. But people became aware that amazake can be a drink to prevent heatstroke and for nutritional support after power-saving efforts were made nationwide following the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami and the subsequent nuclear disaster, an official of Morinaga said.

In order to meet growing demand, companies with fermentation techniques, such as major miso maker Marukome Co. and sake brewery Kikusui Sake Co., have also launched amazake products.

According to Tokyo-based research company Fuji Keizai Co., the amazake market is expected to total some 24 billion yen in 2017, up some 2.5-fold from five years before.

With product lineups at stores increasing amid intensifying competition, the amazake market is expected to expand further. Jiji Press