OSAKA -- Struggling to survive in the saturated domestic market, Suntory Ltd. has stepped up its operations in China in a bid to capture the hearts of beer lovers in the world's most populous country.
"We have been accumulating knowhow in the beer business in China from an early stage," Hitofumi Oiwa, who heads Suntory's international business section, said, expressing confidence about Suntory's prospects in the Chinese market.
The major Japanese brewer set up a beer factory with the Chinese government in Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province, in 1984 to become the first foreign beer maker to enter the country.