Taiwan Beer has been the leading beer brand on the island for decades, with an 81-percent market share in the country. "We have been marketing Taiwan Beer on the island for 62 years, and it is a brand well known among beer lovers on both sides of the strait," said Wei.
TTLC had sought to register the Taiwan Beer brand as a trademark in mainland China since 1999. Mainland authorities had rejected repeatedly every request because of the sensitivity associated with the word "Taiwan" and other political concerns. "But we never gave up," said Wei, who attributed the company's recent success to the government's effort to improve cross-strait relations. The brand got approved last November.
Beer sales represent the largest share of TTLC's revenue. Because of the gloomy economy, the company expects a 5-percent sales decrease for 2008, though it still hopes to see its total revenue for the year hit US$1.8 billion, marking the fourth consecutive year of growth. Wei predicted that the new market would help increase the company's beer sales by 10 percent, contributing US$91 million in revenue this year.
According to a survey Japan's Kirin Holdings Co. Ltd.--the parent company of Kirin Brewery Co. Ltd.--conducted in December 2008, mainland China was declared the world's largest beer market in 2007 for the fifth consecutive year, with 39.13 million kiloliters consumed in the year, representing 22.3 percent of the world's total consumption.
TTLC said it plans to set up branch offices in Beijing and Shanghai. Initially it will only sell cans of beer and export them directly from the island to the southern provinces of Fujian and Guandong, where consumers' food preferences are similar to those in Taiwan. The company will then work to develop a variety of flavors better suited to the taste of beer drinkers in the central and northern regions of the mainland. TTLC plans at a later stage to outsource production to local breweries or establish a partnership with them.
In addition to Taiwan Beer, TTLC will also start selling its Gold Medal Taiwan Beer, which targets younger and female beer drinkers, as well as Yushan kaoliang, a strong distilled liquor made from fermented sorghum.
Wei added that their success set an important precedent for other well-known labels from both sides of the strait. Under the current favorable political atmosphere, "if Taiwan Beer had failed to register in the mainland yet again, famous Chinese brands might have faced the same challenge in Taiwan," explained Wei.
Taiwan Sugar Corp. and Taiyen Biotech Co., two other of the country's state-run businesses, registered their brand names Taisugar and Taiyen in mainland China four years ago. The two companies plan to market their products there once the timing proves opportune.
The improving political atmosphere has also prompted businesses from the mainland to expand their reach to the island. Quanjude, an old and famous restaurant regarded as the synonym for Peking roast ducks, successfully registered its brand name in Taiwan in 2002. The company signed a letter of intent Dec. 14, 2008 with Her Bian Food and Beverage Group to set up a restaurant in the southern city of Kaohsiung. No further detail about the joint venture has been disclosed so far.
Write to Meg Chang at meg.chang@mail.gio.gov.tw