Japan Food Sector: Asia investor visit: Exploring disconnect between fundamentals and share prices

Research evidence excerpt

Japan Food Sector: Asia investor visit: Exploring disconnect between fundamentals and share prices

Global Research

22 June 2026ab

Japan Food Sector Equities

JapanAsia investor visit: Exploring disconnect between

fundamentals and share prices Food & Beverage

Rei Ihara

Analyst

rei.ihara@ubs.com

More questions about what would trigger re-rating of food stocks +81-3-5208 6227

Over the five days of 15-19 June, we visited around 45 investors in Hong Kong and Ryunosuke Watanabe

Singapore. TOPIX Foods has underperformed TOPIX by around 8% YTD, which is not as Associate Analyst

bad as some other domestic demand sectors. However, underlying conditions are less ryunosuke.watanabe@ubs.com

than ideal because the sector has been driven by Ajinomoto and other tech-related +81-3-5208 6243

names. Basically, investors have net shorted the food sector. The most frequently asked

questions by investors were (1) which stocks could see fundamental improvement if the

Middle East situation stabilises and (2) what triggers could lead to a re-rating of the food

sector.

In response, we said that interest would likely increase in (1) stocks with inherent growth

potential whose share price upside has been capped by concerns over higher costs next

fiscal year, such as Kewpie and (2) stocks that have been able to announce last-minute

price hikes in response to Middle East-related costs, though this depends on sales

volumes after hiking prices, such as Yamazaki Baking, the frozen food sector and some

beverage companies. We also said that for the food sector to be re-rated, the cycle of

price hikes and rising raw material costs needs to stabilise, companies need to pivot to

long-term strategies, the sector needs to consolidate in line with global trends amid