Suntory Announces Major Price Hikes from April 2015
Post by Stefan Van Eycken, Tokyo
Yesterday, Suntory officially confirmed rumours that had been circulating for a while, i.e. that it would raise prices for 6 of its major brands (Hibiki, Yamazaki, Hakushu, Macallan, Balvenie and Laphroaig).
The price hikes will affect 39 expressions – across the aforementioned 6 brands (constituting 8% of Suntory Liquor’s total sales). Cheap whiskies, like Torys or the iconic Kakubin, will not be affected.
The last time Suntory raised prices for its domestic whiskies was in September 2008 (a less dramatic increase than this time round). Since then, the cost of raw materials (barley and corn) has gone up with 60-70%, according to Suntory, and this has made the price increases inevitable.
The prices of Suntory’s domestic whiskies will be raised by 20-25%. The three Scotch brands in its portfolio will see a price increase between 17 and 25% - also because of increased demand for these brands in new markets worldwide.
The graph below shows the actual price difference for the major expressions (prices without tax):
Suntory also announced a new permanent addition to its Hibiki range, a NAS expression called ‘Japanese Harmony’ (bottled at 43%). This will be available in Japan from March 10, 2015 and later in the year in selected markets abroad. In Japan, it will be priced at 4,000 yen. It is unclear whether the price of this expression will also be adjusted from April 2015 onwards.
It will be interesting to see whether other major players on the Japanese whisky scene follow suit. It is clear that this move is not an impulsive one, however. Suntory has been laying the groundwork for this for a few years now, by phasing out lower age statements and replacing them with NAS expressions and/or by adding a NAS version to the bottom of a range (as with the newly announced Hibiki, for example). This way, people whose wallets are less inclined to adapt to the price hikes have a ‘substitute’. Whether the consumer will respond in the way that Suntory anticipates remains to be seen, especially if the government goes through with its plan to further increase the consumption tax (which used to be 5% until last year) from 8% to 10% - while salaries remain what they are…
Yesterday, Suntory officially confirmed rumours that had been circulating for a while, i.e. that it would raise prices for 6 of its major brands (Hibiki, Yamazaki, Hakushu, Macallan, Balvenie and Laphroaig).
The price hikes will affect 39 expressions – across the aforementioned 6 brands (constituting 8% of Suntory Liquor’s total sales). Cheap whiskies, like Torys or the iconic Kakubin, will not be affected.
The last time Suntory raised prices for its domestic whiskies was in September 2008 (a less dramatic increase than this time round). Since then, the cost of raw materials (barley and corn) has gone up with 60-70%, according to Suntory, and this has made the price increases inevitable.
The prices of Suntory’s domestic whiskies will be raised by 20-25%. The three Scotch brands in its portfolio will see a price increase between 17 and 25% - also because of increased demand for these brands in new markets worldwide.
The graph below shows the actual price difference for the major expressions (prices without tax):
Comments
If I'm wrong, you can all point it out to me in a year or two when the price of barley goes down and Suntory cuts its prices commensurately.
http://edrington.com/our-brands/macallan?lda=1
Why are those prices on this list?
Thanks, Gats
For the details, please look at http://www.suntory.com/business/beam_sun/japan.html
In the meantime, is there any difference between Yamazaki NAS launched in 2012 and Yamazaki Distiller's Reserve 2014?
Re you second point: there are differences in batch (as there always are - to my taste buds, the earlier batches were better than subsequent ones) but the Yamazaki NAS and the Yamazaki Distillers's Edition are the same thing. It had been available for a while in Japan and,when Suntory decides to export it too, they figured they had to come up with something that had a nicer ring to it than "NAS".
Bud
I was there a month ago and there were no Yamazaki or Hibiki at all. Guess I was 'lucky' this time round.