Earthquake Update 25th March 2011

After the announcement this week of radioactive contamination in Japan’s tap water, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) has requested beverage companies who are members of the Japan Soft Drinks Association to increase their production and import of mineral water.

However, the ongoing temporary power cuts have been severely disrupting production. Working around this Japan’s beverage companies are already at full stretch, including shifting their production to the areas in western Japan unaffected by the crisis. And in addition to the problems with supply of caps, containers and labels as we reported yesterday, supply of raw materials such plastic resins have also been affected, making it a challenge for producers to respond to MAFF’s request.

We and others in the industry therefore continue to urge consumers not to make unnecessary purchases or to hoard stocks of mineral water at this time.