According to a survey by the Pizza Association, Japan’s pizza market in fiscal 2024 is estimated to have final sales of 294.8 billion yen, a 7.5% decrease compared to the previous year. This marks the second consecutive year of decline. However, the popular “prepared food pizzas” made in-store, which have been trending since last year, were not included in these figures. The Association estimates that pizzas sold at ready-to-eat food sections where pizza dough is homemade amount to at least several billion yen, putting the actual market size closer to 300 billion yen.
Breaking down the figures, shipments from regular member manufacturers fell by 12.3%. After nine years of continuous growth, this decline was influenced by some manufacturers reassessing their production systems. By business type, retail sales accounted for about 91% and commercial sales about 9%. When including estimates from non-regular members, total manufacturers’ sales reached 143.1 billion yen, down 8.4% year on year.
The combined estimated sales from pizza delivery shops, specialty stores, mail-order businesses, and Italian restaurants were 151.6 billion yen, down 6.6% (excluding overlaps with manufacturers’ figures). This decrease was partly due to a reduction in the number of delivery store locations.
The Association noted that because the current survey didn’t fully capture the growing prepared food market figures, they plan to incorporate these numbers from next fiscal year onward. They also said they would continue to engage pizza fans with information, including participating this year in the “Cheese Festa” on November 11 (“Cheese Day”) as a new initiative linked to the November 20 “Pizza Day” PR campaign, aiming to promote delicious cheese and pizza to cheese enthusiasts.
