The first local brewery for China's Tsingtao Beer will be built in Pintung County and start mass production in 2004, the local distributor said yesterday.
"NT$3 billion will be invested in the facility, with a maximum production goal of 331.2 million bottles per year," said Peter Tsai (
Tsai added that the brewery would sit atop 8.5 hectares of land and be open for tours, a business offshoot that is expected to generate some NT$6 billion a year and create multiple job opportunities.
The brewery's first year production goal is 82.8 million bottles, growing to 165.6 million bottles the second year, Tsai said.
He said Tsingtao Beer will provide bottle labelling and brewing technology under a 30-year deal with the Chinese parent company.
Taiwan Tsing Beer Corp is a unit of Taiwan-based Sanyo Whisbih Group (
Tsai and the corporation's president paid a visit to Pintung County Commissioner Su Chia-chuan (蘇嘉全) on Wednesday, accompanied by a former Control Yuan member Yeh Yao-peng (葉耀鵬). Yeh is the company's spokesperson and also a shareholder in the corporation.
Su reportedly told his guests that he warmly welcomed the company's investment in Pintung.
According to Yeh, Su facilitated the brewery's construction by providing preferential land leases as well as sufficient supplies of water and electricity.
In addition, Pintung County will invest about NT$60 million to build transportation infrastructure around the brewery's construction site, while Su also plans to build a recreational farm nearby to attract more visitors, Yeh was as saying in the local media yesterday.
According to Tsai, local beer drinkers have responded well to the newly-imported Chinese beer. He said that 36 million bottles of Tsingtao Beer have been sold in Taiwan since April.
Tsingtao's main competition is Taiwan Beer, Tsai said.
After grabbing a 5 percent market share in July, Tsai estimated the brewer could control 20 percent of the Taiwan market within three years.
Tsingtao's entry into the nation's beer market is one of the first by a foreign brewery following termination of the alcohol-production monopoly held by the state-controlled Taiwan Tobacco and Wine Board (TTWB,
The government is cutting tariffs on hundreds of goods and opening its market to foreign competition as a result of its entry into the WTO in January.
The TTWB, which produces and distributes Taiwan Beer, said it has firmly secured an 85 percent market share in Taiwan that no rival could possibly steal away.
UNPRECEDENTED PACE: Micron Technology has announced plans to expand manufacturing capabilities with the acquisition of a new chip plant in Miaoli Micron Technology Inc unveiled a newly acquired chip plant in Miaoli County yesterday, as the company expands capacity to meet growing demand for advanced DRAM chips, including high-bandwidth memory chips amid the artificial intelligence boom. The plant in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼), which Micron acquired from Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電) for US$1.8 billion, is expected to make a sizeable capacity contribution to the company from fiscal 2028, the company said in a statement. It would be an extended production site of Micron’s large-scale manufacturing hub in Taichung, the company said. As the global semiconductor industry is racing to reach US$1 trillion
ABOVE LEGAL REQUIREMENT: The Ministry of Economic Affairs is prepared if LNG supply is disrupted, with more than the legal requirement of 11 days of inventory Taiwan has largely secured liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies through May and arranged about half of June’s supply, Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said yesterday. Since the Middle East conflict began on Feb. 28, Taiwan’s LNG inventories have remained more than 12 days, exceeding the legal requirement of 11 days, indicating no major supply concerns for domestic gas and electricity, Kung said at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee in Taipei. The ministry aims to increase the figure to 14 days by the end of next year, he said. While one or two LNG or crude oil shipments for May
Taiwan’s food delivery market could undergo a major shift if Singapore-based Grab Holdings Ltd completes its planned acquisition of Delivery Hero SE’s Foodpanda business in Taiwan, industry experts said. Grab on Monday last week announced it would acquire Foodpanda’s Taiwan operations for US$600 million. The deal is expected to be finalized in the second half of this year, with Grab aiming to complete user migration to its platform by the first half of next year. A duopoly between Uber Eats and Foodpanda dominates Taiwan’s delivery market, a structure that has remained intact since the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) blocked Uber Technologies Inc’s
Singapore-based ride-hailing and delivery giant Grab Holdings Ltd has applied for regulatory approval to acquire the Taiwan operations of Germany-based Delivery Hero SE's Foodpanda in a deal valued at about US$600 million. Grab submitted the filing to the Fair Trade Commission on Friday last week, with the transaction subject to regulatory review and approval, the company said in a statement yesterday. Its independent governance structure would help foster a healthy and competitive market in Taiwan if the deal is approved, Grab said. Grab, which is listed on the NASDAQ, said in the filing that US-based Uber Technologies Inc holds about 13 percent of