Kirin’s large brewery in northern Yangon covers 80% of Myanmar’s beer market A Burmese military group is seeking to terminate the joint venture with Japanese beer giant Kirin and liquidate their joint brewery business because the beverages produced there, including the flagship Burmese beer brand, have received widespread resistance from the public and sales have fallen sharply. News Agency. The news agency quoted the state-backed newspaper Myanmar Alin as saying that the representative of MEHL’s Myanmar Economic Holdings Co., Ltd. “applied for the dissolution of Myanmar Beer Co., Ltd. on November 19.” However, the newspaper is reported by Myanmar…
A Burmese military group is seeking to terminate the joint venture with Japanese beer giant Kirin and liquidate their joint brewery business, because the beverages produced there, including the flagship Burmese beer brand, have received widespread resistance from the public and sales have fallen sharply. Agence France-Presse Report.
The news agency quoted a state-backed newspaper as saying that the representative of MEHL’s Myanmar Economic Holdings Co., Ltd. “applied for the dissolution of Myanmar Beer Co., Ltd. on November 19th.” Get Myanmar.
However, the newspaper is in charge of the Ministry of Information of Myanmar and did not elaborate on why this decision was made.
Kirin cooperates with MEHL to hold a majority stake in Myanmar Beer Co., Ltd. MEHL is a secret military-controlled conglomerate involved in many industries, including beverages, tobacco, transportation, textiles, tourism, banking, and gem mining.
Myanmar’s most popular beer brand
According to the latest data released by Kirin in 2018, the market share of Myanmar Beer Company is close to 80%. The Japanese beer maker said that in fiscal year 2020, the business generated 32.6 billion yen ($309 million) in revenue.
However, the company has recently come under scrutiny for its relationship with a brewery owned by the military. As soon as the coup ended, Kirin said that it would cut off business ties with the military, accusing the military government of “violating” its human rights principles.
Kirin hopes to stay in the Myanmar market
Kirin Holdings stated in its first formal response to the application on November 24 that it opposed its Myanmar partner’s plan to liquidate the brewery joint venture there.
The company will still adhere to its plan to terminate the partnership with Myanmar’s military-related companies, but hopes to participate in the Myanmar market with potential private partners. The respective negotiations with the current Myanmar partners were unsuccessful because “MEHL has not cooperated and actually rejected our proposal,” said Kirin.
