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Japan’s largest brewer has restarted its domestic Super Dry beer factories after a cyber attack halted operations and sent Asahi Group racing to avert widespread shortages of the nation’s most popular beer.
The company’s six domestic factories that produce the lager restarted on Thursday, Asahi said on Monday, although they were yet to reach full capacity.
A cyber attack on Monday last week shut down production at the majority of Asahi’s 30 factories in Japan and put the country’s izakaya pubs, supermarkets and convenience stores on the brink of shortages of the highly popular Super Dry beer.
Shortages would have forced Asahi to pay out-of-stock penalties to some retailers.
Despite the production restarts, Asahi is still reeling in chaos. Its order and shipment system is still down, according to the Tokyo-based brewer, forcing it to use pen and paper, phone and fax systems to receive orders and send supplies to establishments that are running low.
Shipments of Super Dry had “partially resumed”, it said on Monday, while those of other beer varieties would resume next week.
Asahi also restarted two soft drink factories on Sunday, but five more remain closed and will gradually resume operations.
Seven factories for its food business, which makes baby food, confectionery and supplements, reopened on Thursday but were yet to reach full operations, the company said on Monday.
Asahi confirmed on Friday that the cyber incident was ransomware. Analysts have argued that Japanese companies are particularly vulnerable to ransomware attacks because of weak defences and a tendency to pay the money demanded.
Chief executive Atsushi Katsuki said: “We are continuing our investigation into the possibility of a data leak to determine its nature and scope.”
Retail executives told the Financial Times that Asahi had been prioritising the shipment of Super Dry over other products, given its higher brand and monetary value.
The brewer produced the equivalent of 6.7mn 600ml bottles of Super Dry last year in Japan, based on FT calculations using the company’s 2024 sales figure.
Euan McLeish, an analyst at Bernstein, said he was “not overly concerned about a longer-term impact on their competitiveness in Japan” because of the brand’s “exceptional strength”.
