Taiwan: Taiwan to launch anti-dumping investigation into imports of low-priced Chinese beer

Taiwan’s Finance Minister Chuang Tsui-yun announced on January 2 that the government would launch an anti-dumping investigation into imports of low-priced Chinese beer, The Drinks Business reported on January 3.

Lawmakers have accused Chinese brewers exporting their products to Taiwan of engaging in unfair trade practices by receiving subsidies from the Chinese government, according to the Taipei Times.

The Taiwan Brewers Association, made up of the country’s six biggest brewers, called on the government to launch an investigation into cheap beer imports from Mainland China.

Finance Minister Chuang announced this week that the government is set to launch a probe into low-priced Chinese beer.

The proportion of the Taiwanese beer market made up of Chinese beer brands has increased from just 8% in 2015 to a current market share of 34%.

Responding to lawmakers’ questions during a hearing before the Legislature’s Finance Committee, Chuang said that she was aware that the Taiwan Brewers Association had sent out an application for an investigation. She added that the ministry would begin its inquiry within 30 days of receiving it.

According to reporting by Focus Taiwan, in those 30 days, an interagency tariff commission would be convened to investigate.

A review and investigation into the anti-dumping case would take between eight months and a year to complete, according to customs administration director-general Peng Ying-wei.

Six of the country’s biggest brewers joined forces to launch the Taiwan Brewers Association in August 2024. Members include Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Company (TTL), Heineken, Taihu Craft Brewing, Zhangmen Craft Brewing, Buckskin, and Sunmai, per UDN.

The association aims to promote domestic brewing by lobbying government to support local businesses and increase import barriers.

Its members said in August that one of its primary aims was to reverse the declining market share of locally brewed products, especially compared to the growing share taken up by low-cost beers from China.

State-run liquor company Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corporation (TTL), one of the association’s founding members, is the producer of mass-market beer brand Taiwan Beer.

The brand, one of the most famous in Taiwan, has been banned from sale in China for more than two years. Exports were suspended in December 2022 after Mainland China’s General Administration of Customs blocked shipments of the beer despite the company having filled out export paperwork months prior.

The beer brand continues to be barred from sale in China, a market which was responsible for 18% of export sales prior to the ban.

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