With Thailand’s new booze law, David wins a small, sweet victory over Goliaths
A key figure behind the new Bill is Taopiphop Limjittrakorn, an opposition party member who was once arrested for illegal beer brewing
[BANGKOK] Thailand’s reform movement recently scored a small victory with the passing of the Community Liquor Bill by the 500-member Lower House with 414 votes in its favour, comprising both government and opposition members of parliament.
The Bill will still need to clear the Senate where a favourable outcome is expected, and then be promulgated and published in the Royal Gazette before going into effect.
While the new legislation passed on Jan 15 was pushed by government lawmakers, it was in fact the legal handiwork of Taopiphop Limjittrakorn, a 35-year-old member of parliament from the opposition People’s Power Party.
“I have been fighting for this law for the past eight years, ever since I was arrested for illegal beer brewing,” said Taopiphop, a lawyer by training and a craft beer brewer by preference, in an interview with The Business Times at his pub – Taopiphop Bar Project – in Bangkok.
He first joined the Future Forward Party in 2018 before it was disbanded and later moved to the Move Forward Party, which was dissolved in 2024.
He is now part of the People’s Power Party – the reincarnation of Move Forward – which was blocked from forming the government after winning the most seats in Thailand’s 2023 general election.
Bipartisan support
He first introduced the Progressive Liquor Bill to parliament back in 2020, a move that garnered unexpected bipartisan support, largely because few politicians are willing to risk appearing anti-grassroots.
The People’s Power Party has vowed to tackle Thailand’s monopolies, duopolies and entrenched oligarchies that are widely seen as key factors slowing the country’s economy, which has been limping along at 2 to 3 per cent growth over the past decade.
Thailand’s alcohol market is one clear example.
In 2023, alcohol sales in the country reached about three billion litres, worth around US$16.3 billion, based on a November 2024 report by Krungsri Research. Beer led the way, making up 2.2 billion litres (73.5 per cent of the total), while spirits accounted for 24.5 per cent, ready-mixed drinks 1 per cent, wine 0.9 per cent and cider 0.1 per cent.
Thailand’s beer market is controlled by a duopoly – Boon Rawd Brewery, which owns Singha and Leo; and Thai Beverage (ThaiBev), which makes Chang beer – that claimed 90 per cent of sales in 2023.
ThaiBev also enjoys a near monopoly in the spirits market with its top brands – Ruang Khao, Blend 285 and Hong Thong – dominating more than 70 per cent of the market, while its 27 smaller brands capture the remaining share, according to Krungsri.
Historical market dominance
Such market dominance is partly historical, driven by decades of established consumer loyalty and strategic market control.
Boon Rawd has been brewing Singha beer since 1933 and the brand claims “national beer” status. Chang entered the market in 1995, assisted by ThaiBev’s vast distribution network in the spirits sector through the buyout of a score of distillery licences (now claiming 80 per cent of all spirits sales).
The two giants have also benefitted from favourable legislation, which seemed designed to rein in any serious competition.
A finance ministry decree in 2000, for instance, stipulated that large liquor distilleries must have a minimum capacity of 90,000 litres per day, while small-sized distilleries were limited to using machinery of less than nine horsepower – enough to power a lawn mower.
Beer breweries required 10 million baht (S$397,400) in registered capital and a production capacity of 10 million litres per year, effectively shutting out the small beer brewers from doing anything but on-premise production.
More recent legislation has prohibited all advertisements of alcoholic products and banned e-commerce sales of alcohol.
The new Community Liquor Bill is designed to give the small guy a bit of a break.
The Spirit of Chaiyaphum distillery, for example, was set up five years ago by Runwarin Favre and her French national husband to produce white rum, using sugarcane from Runwarin’s family farm in the Chaiyaphum province.
The small-scale distillery now produces about 40,000 bottles a year, but has been prohibited from ageing its product in oak barrels by a regulation that says a distillery can only produce a coloured spirit if it has a capacity to make at least 7.5 million bottles a year. If the new law passes, this prohibition will be dropped.
Rum aged in oak barrels tends to have a richer flavour, a deep brown colour, and can command a higher price, potentially even in international markets. For example, Spirit of Chaiyaphum rum is sold in beautifully designed bottles and is priced nearly twice as much as a comparable ThaiBev rum.
Most analysts agree that ThaiBev, with its well-established brands, and firm grip on distribution channels, need not worry about losing much market share to the Community Liquor Bill. But that is not really what the Bill’s drafters were shooting at.
“Our strategy is just to make other people more competitive,” said Taopiphop. “Personally, I don’t hate rich people. I want to be rich too, but I just want everyone to have a fair chance to compete. This is my stand. The rules need to be fair to everyone, not just one or two companies.”
