1 of 1
Story summary
- Japan Fair Trade Commission launched an investigation into officials of Asahi, Kirin, Sapporo and Suntory for a suspected price cartel.
- The officials admitted participating in the cartel during the probe.
- They held unofficial talks after industry group meetings to coordinate timing and scale of shipping price hikes.
- The commission executed compulsory inspections of the four companies' headquarters on Wednesday under court warrants.