Taiwan: The largest national brewer, TTL, is to begin brewing for foreigners

Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corp (TTL), which controls 80 % of the nation's beer market, is currently in talks with foreign breweries to manufacture liquor for them, The Taipei Times communicated on November 22. The company expects to announce its client roll by the year-end.

Ray Dawn, chairman of the state-owned brewer, said on November 21 the company is negotiating with many breweries, including those from Europe, the US and Japan, but he refused to disclose details citing confidentiality agreements, according to the Central News Agency.

If the deals materializes, 90 % of the beer sold in the domestic market will then hail from TTL, the report said. Currently, TTL churns out 55 million to 57 million crates of beer a year, accounting for around 80 percent of its annual capacity of 72 million dozens, said Martin Tsai, company vice president.

By boosting the company's capacity utilization rate, Dawn said the deals would help them cut costs and build a more profitable business model. He also aims to strengthen cooperation with foreign tobacco manufacturers to seek internationalization and business expansion into China, he said during an interview in August.

In addition to ushering in strategic partners, Dawn has sought to review and improve the company's privatization scheme after taking the helm of TTL in July.