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.
Thirty-five earthquakes have exceeded 5.5 on the Richter scale so far this year, the most in 14 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said on Facebook on Thursday. A large earthquake in Hualien County on April 3 released five times as much the energy as the 921 Earthquake on Sept. 21, 1999, the agency said in its latest earthquake report for this year. Hualien County has had the most national earthquake alerts so far this year at 64, with Yilan County second with 23 and Changhua County third with nine, the agency said. The April 3 earthquake was what caused the increase in
INTIMIDATION: In addition to the likely military drills near Taiwan, China has also been waging a disinformation campaign to sow division between Taiwan and the US Beijing is poised to encircle Taiwan proper in military exercise “Joint Sword-2024C,” starting today or tomorrow, as President William Lai (賴清德) returns from his visit to diplomatic allies in the Pacific, a national security official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said that multiple intelligence sources showed that China is “highly likely” to launch new drills around Taiwan. Although the drills’ scale is unknown, there is little doubt that they are part of the military activities China initiated before Lai’s departure, they said. Beijing at the same time is conducting information warfare by fanning skepticism of the US and
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is unlikely to attempt an invasion of Taiwan during US president-elect Donald Trump’s time in office, Taiwanese and foreign academics said on Friday. Trump is set to begin his second term early next year. Xi’s ambition to establish China as a “true world power” has intensified over the years, but he would not initiate an invasion of Taiwan “in the near future,” as his top priority is to maintain the regime and his power, not unification, Tokyo Woman’s Christian University distinguished visiting professor and contemporary Chinese politics expert Akio Takahara said. Takahara made the comment at a
DEFENSE: This month’s shipment of 38 modern M1A2T tanks would begin to replace the US-made M60A3 and indigenous CM11 tanks, whose designs date to the 1980s The M1A2T tanks that Taiwan expects to take delivery of later this month are to spark a “qualitative leap” in the operational capabilities of the nation’s armored forces, a retired general told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) in an interview published yesterday. On Tuesday, the army in a statement said it anticipates receiving the first batch of 38 M1A2T Abrams main battle tanks from the US, out of 108 tanks ordered, in the coming weeks. The M1 Abrams main battle tank is a generation ahead of the Taiwanese army’s US-made M60A3 and indigenously developed CM11 tanks, which have
RSS