Hite Jinro Beverage will export its non-alcohol beer “ZERO ZERO ZERO” to Japan, where the non-alcohol beverage market has been expanding explosively.
The nation’s No. 1 beer and soju producer announced Monday it has closed a deal with Japanese distributor Kasuga and will ship 120,000 cases annually worth 3.5 billion won. The first shipment of 10,000 cases is scheduled to leave Busan on Saturday.
The non-alcohol beer is locally touted as an “All-Free” type, with zero-calories, zero-sugar and zero-alcohol.
“We have been exporting over 200,000 cases of non-alcohol beverages every year since 2011,” said an overseas marketing manager.
“But, we will adopt more aggressive marketing strategies in the near future, such as finding more overseas distributors to beef up sales.”
Hite Jinro seeks to make inroads to the Japanese market, whose non-alcohol sector was up 143 percent in 2012 at 40.5 million cases from a year earlier.