Craft brewers and distillers call for easing of production curbs

BANGKOK -- It took only a word from Thailand's prime minister hopeful to trigger a run on local liquor brands Sangvein Spirits and Issan Rum.

 

Appearing on a morning TV show in early June, Pita Limjaroenrat named his favorite spirits and reminded audiences of his Move Forward Party's policy to promote Thai liquors abroad.

 

But as supporters -- who carried the party to a surprise win in the May 14 general election -- rushed to order bottles, they were confronted by the supply issue at the heart of Move Forward's policy. Small distilleries are limited to five-horsepower stills, which means they can make only 100 bottles per day.

 

"We're actually almost sold out this year. It's going to be rough for us to try to keep up with demand," said Niks Anumanrajadhon, a partner in Issan Rum.

 

FRANCESCA REGALADO, Nikkei staff writer

Top picture+ Customers enjoy cold beers at a restaurant in Bangkok on June 28. Thailand’s overall beverage market was worth $20 billion in 2020, with alcoholic tipples accounting for 64% of that. (Photo by Ken Kobayashi)
 

#news

Full story: https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Food-Beverage/Thailand-braces-for-liquor-industry-disruption-under-Move-Forward

 

-- © Copyright Nikkei Asian Review 2023-06-29

 

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doing away these laws would be good....

 

Also the import duty and tax on wine needs examination. In Italy last week I enjoyed a bottle of Pinot Grigio for 3 euros, probably 25% of the cost in Thailand.

 

The domestic wine industry is so small the excuse of protecting it is very shallow, the tax is more of an income generator for the Government.

Growing pains via profound change are inevitable.

4 hours ago, h90 said:

doing away these laws would be good....

 

100% in agreement, time some competition was brought into the monopoly, and hopefully some decent ale

7 minutes ago, Classic Ray said:

The domestic wine industry is so small the excuse of protecting it is very shallow, the tax is more of an income generator for the Government.

That it is. The beer tax and the absurd rules on craft beer brewing are more of a protection thing, maintained by Prayut as a totally corrupt attempt to destroy any competition for his mates at Boonrawk and ThaiBev. 

yeah... yeah... yeah... yeahhhhhhhh

yeah... yeah... yeah... yeahhhhhhhh

yeah... yeah... yeah... yeahhhhhhhh

yeah... yeah... yeah... yeahhhhhhhh

 

i truly dislike 2 faced pitiful pita and the shinawat clan and hope they both rot in monitor lizard dung. but i do hope the oligarchs of brewing have a run for their money

If memory serves, the original reasons for the high tax on wine is that it is a luxury product and Thai people don't drink it. Well, not being a French colony that would be understandable, compared to Laos.

Bring it on 

Some decent craft beer ???? to enter the market .

9 minutes ago, Pouatchee said:

yeah... yeah... yeah... yeahhhhhhhh

yeah... yeah... yeah... yeahhhhhhhh

yeah... yeah... yeah... yeahhhhhhhh

yeah... yeah... yeah... yeahhhhhhhh

Nice to see you practicing your ABCs... soon you can move on to the other 22... good boy ! 

4 hours ago, h90 said:

doing away these laws would be good....

 

Ethical competition in most business areas is healthy and will in many product areas bring prices down. A good thing.

40 minutes ago, Classic Ray said:

Also the import duty and tax on wine needs examination. In Italy last week I enjoyed a bottle of Pinot Grigio for 3 euros, probably 25% of the cost in Thailand.

 

The domestic wine industry is so small the excuse of protecting it is very shallow, the tax is more of an income generator for the Government.

Well said!!  It's obscene what they do to the price of a bottle of wine.  In Argentina I enjoyed a Malbec under the Portillo brand for equivalent of about U$2.00.  Found it on the shelf here in Bangkok for over the equivalent of U$20.  All the imported from source wine prices are insane.

Thai beer is only rivaled by Serbian beer, and the mass produced American beers, in terms of the very low quality. Poor grade of hops, barely, and the production process seems to be entirely lacking in pride. Typical of the big monopolies. Even a large production beer, like Beer Laos blows away any Thai beer, hands down. Thailand desperately needs a vital craft beer movement, and the youth are ready to mount it. If only the dinosaurs would stop protecting their "bankers" and move out of the way. In other words, allow some progress, you mindless simpletons! 

 

Just to make sure small brewers were thoroughly intimidated, the rewrite also increased inflated penalties. Fines were increased from their original, almost quaint 200 baht ($6) for possession of bootleg alcohol to 10,000 ($300). For actually brewing without a license, fines were increased from 5,000 baht ($150) to a range of 50,000–100,000 baht ($1,600–$3,200), plus jail time. Reporting in 2017, The Bangkok Post estimated that in order to meet the new regulations, a brewer would need to have a billion baht—around $30 million—in start-up capital. 

 

For some, craft beer is associated with anti-establishment politics. “It’s very similar to the French Revolution, which started from a cafe in Paris, where people drank coffee,” says Taopiphop. “The fuel of the revolution is not coffee any more, it’s craft beer.” Taopiphop adds that, after the 2014 coup in Thailand, many pro-democracy activists chose to meet in Bangkok’s craft beer bars.

 

Something has to change. Giving a near monopoly to huge corporations that make inferior products is never a good thing for society. 

 

 

iI recall a tad before Covid they (who they ?) announced they were going to reduce import tax on wines - to encourage high roller tourists !

7 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

Thai beer is only rivaled by Serbian beer, and the mass produced American beers, in terms of the very low quality. Poor grade of hops, barely, and the production process seems to be entirely lacking in pride. Typical of the big monopolies. Even a large production beer, like Beer Laos blows away any Thai beer, hands down.

Bit harsh on Serbia. I don't have any other rice-based beers to compare, but after 30 years here my palette is so jaded I don't like English ale (in cans) even at 3 times the price.

53 minutes ago, Snig27 said:

The beer tax and the absurd rules on craft beer brewing are more of a protection thing, maintained by Prayut as a totally corrupt attempt to destroy any competition for his mates at Boonrawk and ThaiBev. 

Been going since way back, before Prayut was even a cypher in the families' eye. So it makes the "disruption" claim in the OP headline rather mystifying.

 

As for wine, its obscenely inflated prices for indifferent stuff - as well as the other restrictions on alcohol such as times of purchase etc - is another aspect of the sanghas and their odd influence. You can understand prohibition in the middle east, but fundamentalist Buddhists?

 

Cheaper good-quality wine would be a boon for tourism too, no?

Per-lease......

I like a pint of Hoegaarden now and again here in Phuket 350 baht is it the same in other places?

Edited June 29, 20233 yr by ChipButty

1 hour ago, Classic Ray said:

Also the import duty and tax on wine needs examination. In Italy last week I enjoyed a bottle of Pinot Grigio for 3 euros, probably 25% of the cost in Thailand.

 

The domestic wine industry is so small the excuse of protecting it is very shallow, the tax is more of an income generator for the Government.

I don't drink spirits, and the beer here is like fizzy lager, so any reduction on the price of (imported) wine would go down well with me - along with probably quite a few others who would drink more if it was more affordable. 

20 Billion!

No wonder those who benefited most didn't want change.

1 hour ago, terryofcrete said:

Nice to see you practicing your ABCs... soon you can move on to the other 22... good boy ! 

now lets hear you sound out phonically what i wrote. oops, right, needs to be at least kindergarten 2. by the way how bout adding content or an actual opinion to the matter at hand rather than just picking an argument that i wont let you win?

Just try to imagine what would have happened if he'd say he likes the smell of a good f*rt after a good somtam....

2 hours ago, Snig27 said:

That it is. The beer tax and the absurd rules on craft beer brewing are more of a protection thing, maintained by Prayut as a totally corrupt attempt to destroy any competition for his mates at Boonrawk and ThaiBev. 

Better beer is the goal. The two largest brewers do not need protectionist policies to protect their sales.

2 hours ago, Classic Ray said:

Also the import duty and tax on wine needs examination. In Italy last week I enjoyed a bottle of Pinot Grigio for 3 euros, probably 25% of the cost in Thailand.

 

The domestic wine industry is so small the excuse of protecting it is very shallow, the tax is more of an income generator for the Government.

Bearing in mind that only 10% of Thais pay tax, or so I've read, then the government has to generate income by heavily taxing 'non-essential luxuries', especially imports. Which is why many imported items cost the same or more than they do in their homeland. It isn't only because of freight charges.

 

It's a pain in the a***, but understandable. What I don't understand is the tax on imports from ASEAN countries. Beer Lao, and Thai beer that has to be brewed in Vietnam and imported into Thailand are examples. I thought that one of the points of ASEAN was that it operated rather like the EU, which includes tax-free movement of goods between countries. Perhaps, in true Thai fashion, the country believes the law doesn't apply to them and, as one of the bigger players in the region, they get away with it. I might be way off the mark, of course, and stand to be corrected.

7 hours ago, webfact said:

BANGKOK -- It took only a word from Thailand's prime minister hopeful to trigger a run on local liquor brands Sangvein Spirits and Issan Rum

Promote liquor and ban cannabis! 

12 minutes ago, Venom said:

Promote liquor and ban cannabis! 

I'll drink to that!

Braces for liberation, not disruption

7 hours ago, h90 said:

doing away these laws would be good....

 

Yeah,  it'd be fantastic to have some affordable locally made craft beers 

2 hours ago, sambum said:

I don't drink spirits, and the beer here is like fizzy lager, so any reduction on the price of (imported) wine would go down well with me - along with probably quite a few others who would drink more if it was more affordable. 

 wouldn't it be ncie to have reasonably priced  wine to drink here. To get a half decent bottle here now, you have to spend at least 7-800 thb..  What is that, around 17 Euros per bottle?  I think a bottle of that quality would cost as little as 4-5 Euros back in Europe? 

Well any type of liquor disruption is going to effect tourism.  And also people thinking about moving to Thailand 

5 hours ago, Purdey said:

If memory serves, the original reasons for the high tax on wine is that it is a luxury product and Thai people don't drink it. Well, not being a French colony that would be understandable, compared to Laos.

But as the Thai middle class, middle income,  grows more of those Thais are drinking wine, usually though it's the low priced imports. Perhaps because outside Bangkok and tourist / expat hotspots it's hard to find "middle" priced wines on shelves or in restaurants. You have to look online. For decent wine one pays alot more than in wine producing countries in Europe. In the UK there's a wide choice from all the wine producing areas of the world but prices are not so different to Thailand due to high duty levels.

Dismantling such an ingrained monopoly, with all the laws and regulations designed to prevent an effective challenge will take time. I wouldn't imagine that the situation on the ground will change for at least six months, maybe more.

 

The monopolies contacts run deep. Do you remember the Police General who was so concerned by the crowd he observed at a pub and craft brewery in Bangkok, seen from the back seat of his staff car, and assessed by him to constitute a risk to the structure of the building, that he very public spiritedly ordered it closed with immediate effect!

 

Nothing to do with him being on a handsome retainer from one of the big two brewers of course - perish the thought, it was unworthy of me!