A liberal alcohol industry will benefit SMEs, farmers, says Move Forward
Move Forward, which won 151 seats in the May 14 election, declared boldly that it is getting closer to breaking the monopoly of large manufacturers in the alcohol industry.
In a Facebook post on Sunday, the party said that the future of Thailand’s brewing and distilling industry will be different under its government as it plans to liberalise the distilling and brewing sector.
“For more than 70 years the state has used its power to put the liquor business in the hands of a few wealthy families. But with just one step left, the chain that blocks the potential of small breweries will be broken,” the post read.
Move Forward had tried but failed to push its progressive liquor bill through Parliament during the last government’s tenure. Though the bill passed through the first reading due to strong public support, it was replaced by the Finance Ministry’s version in the second reading. The government’s version of the bill still favours large manufacturers instead of small businesses.
In the post, Move Forward said that once its government liberalises the liquor and beer-making industries, the sector’s 500 billion baht per year will be shared more fairly.
The party said under its law, small businesses will be able to create their own alcoholic beverages using crops grown in their areas.
Currently, the alcohol market is in the hands of a few major players, namely Thai Beverage Plc, Boon Rawd Brewery and Chaloem Watana Nongprue Distillery.
The party said its Think Forward Centre has compiled a list of benefits the liberalisation of the alcohol industry will provide, namely:
• Boosting the value of several agricultural products like sugarcane, rice, cassava, corn, coconut and toddy palms. The value of these products would rise by 5 billion baht a year
• Opening the door to new jobs and entrepreneurs leading to the circulation of 30 billion baht per year in the economy
• Encouraging research and development of local wisdom and culture
• Reducing import of liquor and beer, which will cut Thailand’s trade deficit by about 3.5 billion baht per year
• Using agricultural products in distilling and brewing alcohol will keep prices stable as farmers can sell their harvests to distillers
• Using by-products left from making beer and alcohol to make animal feed, which will reduce farmers’ costs.
