Asahi Resumes Beer Production after Cyberattack

Tokyo, Oct. 6 (Jiji Press)–Asahi Group Holdings Ltd. resumed production of its mainstay Super Dry beer product at its six domestic breweries on Thursday after a halt due to a cyberattack-caused computer system failure, company officials said Monday. The Japanese food and beverage maker plans to address the backlog of orders received manually on Wednesday and ship products when they are ready. The company does not yet know when its computer system will be restored. A full resumption of output at about 30 factories in Japan, including those that produce food and beverage products, is not expected soon. Meanwhile, Asahi Breweries Ltd. said Monday that it will postpone the planned launch of 10 new products, including beer, due to the system glitch. The system failure was confirmed on Sept. 29, forcing Asahi Group to halt shipments and production at most of its factories in Japan. The company found the glitch was caused by a ransomware attack. Among industry peers, Kirin Brewery Co. is set to limit shipments of its mainstay “Ichiban Shibori” beer brand and other products to restaurants starting Thursday, saying it cannot keep up with a rapid increase in orders for substitutes for Asahi products. Sapporo Breweries Ltd. began restricting shipments for its flagship Kuro Label beer brand and other products on Friday. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]