Suntory Holdings' Japanese spirits unit, Suntory Spirits, has announced a Y6.5bn ($42.8m) investment into its Suntory Osaka plant.

Suntory's Osaka site produces a range of the company's spirits and liqueurs, including Roku Gin.

The investment includes a Y5.5bn capital injection, which the company first announced in 2024, which is being invested from 2024 to 2025.

Suntory will use them sum to boost production capacity at the site with the construction of a new Osaka Spirits and Liqueurs Craft Distillery at Suntory's Osaka plant.

New maceration tanks and distillation pot stills will be installed in order to more than double the total production capacity for its spirits and liqueurs.

The move is expected to "enhance quality craftsmanship" for its drinks, "to capture the growing demand for gin", the business said.

An additional Y1bn will also be invested in the development of a new visitor experience at the Suntory Osaka distillery site, expected to open in early 2026. The new visitor space looks to ultimately "expand the gin market" in Japan.

According to retail prices, including of canned RTDs collected by Suntory, the gin market in Japan has grown more than threefold in size since 2019, and was expected to be valued at Y25bn last year.

Suntory's Japanese arm entered the gin segment in 1936 with the launch of Hermes Dry Gin.

The group said it was "committed to producing high quality domestic gin" and would look to "captivate" consumers in the category and contribute to growing the domestic total gin market to Y45bn by 2030.

In its full year results for the period ended 31 December, Suntory's alcoholic beverages segment saw revenues excluding liquor tax grow 1% to Y1,055.7bn .

Operating income increased 2.9% on 2023 figures, to Y180.7bn.

The company booked growth in its ready-to-drink and Japanese whisky and saw share growth in American whiskey.

Its markets International and North America markets "were challenged", the group said, though it continued to see "strong sales in South Korea and Japan".

Growth in Japan in particular was aided by the group's focus "on creating
Western liquor culture, with a focus on whisky and gin".