Japan Food Sector: US soy sauce, mayo, and confectionery trends based on Nielsen data (June 2026)

Research evidence excerpt

Japan Food Sector: US soy sauce, mayo, and confectionery trends based on Nielsen data (June 2026)

Global Research

23 June 2026ab

Japan Food Sector Equities

JapanUS soy sauce, mayo, and confectionery trends

based on Nielsen data (June 2026) Food & Beverage

Rei Ihara

Analyst

rei.ihara@ubs.com

Morinaga continues to struggle, Kikkoman and Kewpie solid +81-3-5208 6227

Noting significant equity market interest, we have used the latest Nielsen data to analyse Ryunosuke Watanabe

US sales of Kikkoman soy sauce, Kewpie mayonnaise, and Morinaga's Hi-Chew in June. Associate Analyst

The report this time around does not capture data for club stores like Costco and for e- ryunosuke.watanabe@ubs.com

commerce (EC) due to system issues at Nielsen, and the scope is therefore limited to +81-3-5208 6243

grocery and convenience stores. We thus note that this data lacks continuity with

previously issued reports. Our conclusions are 1) Kikkoman's soy sauce sales showed

slight deceleration in April-June compared to January-March, but continued to grow

firmly; 2) Kewpie's mayonnaise remained strong in April-June, similar to January-March;

and 3) the trend for Morinaga's Hi-Chew sales settled compared with January-March,

but continued to show a declining trend.

Kikkoman slowed somewhat versus Jan-Mar, but was firm even so

Kikkoman's soy sauce sales value rose 10% yoy in January-March 2026, and was up 7%

yoy in April-June 2026 and up 5% yoy for June alone. Although sales have slowed

somewhat versus January-March, even so growth is still firm. Nielsen data does not track

commercial and processing-use soy sauce, which accounts for 60% of sales. In addition,

there appears to have been a pullback in shipments in H2 FY3/27 ahead of the startup of