After closing its Shanghai factory last year, Japanese beverage giant Yakult (also known as “Yakult”) is once again wielding the axe at its Guangzhou factory. In less than a year’s time, Yakult is shutting down a factory for the second time. In December of last year, Yakult announced the closure of its Shanghai factory.
On October 20, the Japanese Yakult headquarters announced that Yakult Guangzhou was initiating a business restructuring process. As part of this restructuring, the company will begin the process of closing the first factory of Guangzhou Yakult Co., Ltd. The factory will officially close on November 30. In the future, the production functions of Guangzhou Plant No. 1 will gradually be transferred to Guangzhou Plant No. 2 and Foshan Plant.
According to reports from Jiemian News, on October 21, Guangzhou Yakult stated that the company had decided to close the first factory in Guangzhou, transitioning from a three-plant system to a two-plant system.
Data from the official website indicates that Yakult entered the Chinese market in 2002, starting in Guangzhou under the name Yakult. In 2003, operations began under the Yakult name in Shanghai. In June 2002, the first factory in Guangzhou was officially put into operation, and Yakult brand lactic acid bacteria milk drink was launched in Guangdong. In 2014, Yakult Guangzhou opened its second factory in Huangpu District, Guangzhou, and in 2019, it opened the Foshan Plant in Sanshui District, Foshan.
In December 2024, Yakult announced the closure of the Shanghai factory.
Yakult Headquarters (Japan) indicated during a financial results meeting in November 2023 that due to the downturn in the Chinese market and other reasons, they had lowered the profit expectations for the 2024 financial year. Including another local branch in Guangzhou Province, Guangzhou Yakult, daily sales volume in China was around 5.28 million bottles in the January to September period of 2023, about a 20% decrease compared to the same period last year.
In February of last year, Japanese media reported that Yakult headquarters announced a large-scale layoff of around 800 employees at its largest branch in China, “China Yakult,” located in Shanghai. The analysis indicated that the continued economic weakness in China and poor sales performance were reasons compelling Yakult headquarters to make this decision.
Sources revealed that in 2023, Yakult in China reduced staff at its factories in Tianjin and other locations and implemented a series of production adjustments. By the end of 2023, the number of employees at China Yakult had decreased from around 4,200 at the end of the previous year to about 3,400.
Yakult (China) Group has a total of six production bases and 53 subsidiaries in Guangzhou, Tianjin, Wuxi, and Foshan, providing home delivery services in Guangdong, Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin, Xiamen, Fuzhou, Hengyang, Nanchang, and Kunming. After the closure of the Guangzhou Plant No. 1, Yakult’s production bases will be reduced to five.
The announcement regarding the closure of Guangzhou Plant No. 1 indicates that Guangzhou Yakult Company had an average daily sales volume of 1.49 million bottles in the first quarter of 2025, with sales areas covering Guangdong and Hainan provinces. This is nearly halved compared to the daily average sales of 2.82 million bottles in 2021.
In 2021, Yakult promoted that probiotics can prevent COVID-19, which led to a fine of 450,000 RMB and sparked heated discussions. Despite Yakult’s public apology, the negative impact of the incident has long-lasting effects on Yakult’s brand image and consumer trust.