Democratic Progressive Party legislators yesterday called for support for Taiwan’s domestic beer industry as it faces increasing competition from beer produced in China.
The aggressive pricing of Chinese beer, unfair trade practices and misleading labeling have undermined the domestic beer industry, legislators Hsu Fu-kuei (徐富癸), Kuo Kuo-wen (郭國文) and Chung Chia-pin (鍾佳濱) told a news conference at the legislature in Taipei, urging the Ministry of Finance and other agencies to implement countermeasures.
One of out every three cans of beer consumed in Taiwan is from China, with the city of Putian in China’s Fujian Province exporting more than 85 percent of its beer to Taiwan, totaling NT$1.7 billion (US$52.9 million ) in the first seven months of the year, Hsu said.
Warning: Excessive consumption of alcohol can damage your health. Photo: Chen Yi-kuan, Taipei Times
That is significantly more than the second or third-largest beer exporters to Taiwan — the Philippines and Malaysia, Hsu said, adding that the Chinese government is using Taiwanese consumers to prop up the local economy in Putian.
Chinese beer exports to Taiwan last year totaled NT$3.5 billion, while Taiwanese exports to China totaled only NT$3 million, Hsu said.
Taiwan remains open to Chinese beer, but China cites things such as registration issues as the reason for the discrepancy, he said.
The beer industry in Taiwan supports the local agricultural sector, and there should be a policy in place to protect farmers, he added.
Since 2014, China’s domestic beer market has shrunk, leading to its producers dumping products in neighboring countries, Kuo said.
China heavily subsidizes brewers and the central government has put pressure on local officials to help the industry cut prices, Kuo added.
In Taiwan, the market share of beer brewed in China has surged more than four-fold in the past decade from 8 percent to about 34 percent in the past three years, Kuo said.
Aside from being cheaper than local beer, some Chinese beer uses deceptive labeling and packaging to trick consumers into believing they are not Chinese products or were made in Taiwan, Chung said, citing as examples printing the words “made in China” in very small letters and the name of a US brand in a much larger font on the front.
Chung called on the government to more strictly enforce the Regulations Governing the Labeling of Alcohol Products (酒類標示管理辦法).
The legislators held up examples of beer cans to demonstrate their point.
National Treasury Administration Deputy Director-General Ma Hsiao-hui (馬小惠) said that the labeling issue falls under the jurisdiction of the Taipei City Government, but the Customs Administration could investigate allegations of dumping and their impact on the market.
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