Starbucks Corp, the largest US coffee-shop chain, will sell bottled coffee at stores in Japan and Taiwan to gain part of a growing US$10 billion-a-year market led by Coca-Cola Co.
Starbucks signed an agreement with Suntory Ltd, Japan's fourth-largest brewer, to make and distribute chilled drinks in Japan.
A separate venture with President Starbucks Coffee Taiwan Ltd (統一星巴克), will distribute products in Taiwan, Seattle-based Starbucks said in a statement.
Starbucks's venture may earn more in Japan than the US$30 million it gets annually from bottled Frappuccino coffee drinks in the US, CIBC World Markets Corp analyst John Glass said in a report.
The company introduced Frappuccino in US grocery stores in 1996 in a venture with PepsiCo Inc.
Starbucks, which has more than 9,000 stores, is starting retail distribution in Asia as part of the company's plans to extend its growth, said Gerry Lopez, president, Starbucks Global Consumer products.
Coca-Cola, PepsiCo's rival in the global soft drink industry, sells canned Georgia coffee drinks in Japan, one of its most profitable markets, wrote Merrill Lynch & Co analyst Christine Farkas in a May 17 report. Farkas is based in New York and has a "neutral" rating on Coca-Cola.
Georgia is the No. 1 coffee sold in Japan, said John Sicher, editor and publisher of Beverage Digest, which tracks the industry.
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