Japanese Sake
日本酒Junmai, ginjo and daiginjo from named breweries. A product we can get, into a US market that is currently shrinking.
Specification, not suggestion.
Everything on this page is either a published figure with a source or a gap we have written down. Nothing is a guess dressed as a fact.
Readiness: 3 of 6. We answer six questions about every line before we sell it: supply, cost, price, regulatory, buyers, margin. This one has 3 of them answered.
| Detail | What we state |
|---|---|
| Classes | Junmai, ginjo, daiginjo, and the junmai forms of each |
| US average export price | 1,360 JPY a litre, about 8.50 USD |
| China average export price | 2,200 JPY a litre, 62 percent more |
| Carriage | Ambient or chilled depending on pasteurisation |
| Licensing | TTB basic permit, COLA approval, state licences, three tier |
| Customs heading | 2206.00, to be confirmed by your broker |
What we know, and what we do not.
Most suppliers answer the first three and let you discover the other three after you have ordered. All six are here, including the ones where the honest answer is that nobody has looked yet.
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Supply | Not a supply constrained product in the way matcha and scallop are. The constraint is choosing breweries, not finding them. |
| Cost | Not answered. No brewery has quoted. |
| Price | Japan's average export price to the United States was 1,360.15 JPY a litre, about 8.50 USD. The same sake averages 2,199.71 JPY a litre into China, which is 62 percent more for the same product. |
| Regulatory | Alcohol, so this is a different regulatory world from the rest of the line: TTB federal basic permit, COLA label approval, state by state licensing and a three tier distribution system. None of it is confirmed and none of it is quick. |
| Buyers | Not answered. The three tier system means the buyer is an importer or distributor holding the right licences, not a restaurant. |
| Margin | Not computed. In a market where volume and value are both falling, margin is the wrong first question. |
The things that turn a good price into a bad one.
A shrinking market
US volume fell 3.22 percent and value 6.24 percent year on year in Q1 2026, while China grew 8.2 percent in volume and 10.85 in value and overtook the US as the largest market by value.
The three tier system
A US importer cannot sell direct to a restaurant in most states. The licensing is the business, not the sourcing.
Tariffs
US tariffs are named in the trade reporting as part of why average bottle prices fell about 2 percent.
What we would need to quote this properly.
- TTB and state licensing position
- Which breweries
- Whether the US is the right market at all
Sources
- Sake export tracker Q1 2026
- Japan alcohol export statistics
What leaves Japan this month.
Once a month: the prices that moved, the reason they moved, and what we can allocate before it is spoken for. Written for people who buy, by the people doing the buying.
Buyers and distributors only. We do not sell the list and you can leave in one click.