Sold out: Japan is running out of Asahi beer because of a cyberattack

Japan is facing a significant shortage of Asahi products, including the firm's Super Dry beer, following a cyberattack that has severely disrupted operations at Asahi Group Holdings, the country's largest brewery.

The attack began this Monday and has forced the company to partially suspend its operations. Orders, shipments and customer call centre services in Japan have been hit, although overseas systems haven't been affected.

Production has been impacted in most of Asahi's 30 factories in the country, and it's unclear when the system will be back up and running.

"We are actively investigating the cause and working to restore operations; however, there is currently no estimated timeline for recovery," the company said on Monday in a statement.

Asahi has cancelled events and is delaying the launch of products because of the cyberattack, although it confirmed that no customer data has been leaked. According to Bloomberg, the firm said that the perpetrators used ransomware, but it is still investigating the root causes of the incident.

On Friday, a company spokeswoman told The Associated Press that some emergency shipments were made on Wednesday.

Japanese media said a number of convenience stores weren’t getting their deliveries and that stocks were low, meaning products were sold out in some shops.

Tokyo-based Asahi, which sprung from a predecessor firm established in 1889, is a leading beer producer in Japan. One of the company's most popular drinks is the Super Dry rice lager, but it produces cider, juices, as well as baby food, sweets, and some other food products.

Asahi shares fell over 1% on Friday, a low not seen since February.