Export Market Guide - Taiwan

All regulatory information for exporting wine to Taiwan, including the regulatory environment, duties and taxes, and permitted additives.

Unless an exemption has been granted by Wine Australia, grape products exported from Australia must comply with the Food Standards Code. Accordingly, the labelling and wine standards information in Wine Australia’s Export Market Guides should be read in conjunction with Wine Australia’s Licensing and Compliance Guide which contains the requirements of the Food Standards Code and applicable exemptions.

Taiwan has traditionally held a monopoly on wine and tobacco heralding from Japanese occupation. The abolition of the wine and tobacco monopoly was reached by the Legislative Yuan in abolishing the ‘Provisional Rules on Tobacco and Wine Monopoly in Taiwan Province’. The result has been an economic liberalisation on wine trade in Taiwan. This also means wine is now subject to taxes such as customs tariffs, wine taxes, as well as business taxes. 

Recently, the Ministry of Finance drafted new regulations to control wine production, wine hygiene, imports, marketing and advertising through the Tobacco & Wine Control Act, the Tobacco & Wine Tax Law and the Tobacco and Alcohol Administration Act. Importing controls are fairly stringent and exporters should be aware of these requirements before exporting to Taiwan. The following information should be used as a guide only. 

There has been a significant move towards New World wines as consumers are attracted to wines of Australia, Chile and the USA. Easy to read labels and consistent quality and pricing has been the driver of this success. In restaurants frequented by young people, wines from USA, Chile and Australia seem to be increasingly more popular due to more acceptable prices and easy-to-read labels. Old World wines still remain the dominant import into the market, however the economic downturn saw an increase in sales of lower priced New World wines as retailers attempted to stimulate sales.

Advertising and promotion of alcohol is governed by the Tobacco and Alcohol Administration Act. Any advertising or promotion of alcohol must include conspicuous health warnings (at least 10% of the entire page) such as ‘excessive drinking endangers health’ or any other warning as listed under Reference A7 in Labelling Requirements. 

There is significant potential for increased sales of Australian red wines and, to a lesser extent, white wines. The red wine market is expected to continue its growth in the face of a decline of non-grape wines. Australian wine is well positioned to capture a share of the Taiwan market.