Sake is an alcoholic beverage, made with rice, that originated in Japan. It is often referred to as rice wine but is actually closer to a beer than a wine based on the way that it is brewed. In the production of wine, the natural sugars in the fruits from which it is made are fermented. In making sake, the sugars that are fermented to produce the alcohol must first be converted from the starches in rice. It is a process very similar to the one used to brew beer.

Today’s market size is the value of Japanese sake exports to the world in 2002, 2012 and the industry’s declared goal for exports by 2020. In 2012, one-third of the sake exported from Japan was imported by the United States.

Geographic reference: Japan
Year: 2002, 2012, and a forecast for 2020
Market size: ¥7.5 billion, ¥8.9 billion and ¥60 billion respectively. In dollar terms, based on average exchange rates each year and using 2013’s exchange rate for the 2020 forecast, those values are $60 million, $112 million, and $616 million.
Source: Eric Peanner and Zhiyi Yang, “In Sake, Japan Sees A Potential Stimulus,” The New York Times, February 22, 2014, pages B1-B2. The average exchange rate data used to convert the Yen to Dollars was obtained at this OzForx Group Limited website.
Original source: National Tax Agency of Japan
Posted on March 11, 2014