The Excise Department says current economic conditions are unfavourable, resulting in only one small, community-based entrepreneur applying for a licence to become a medium-sized liquor producer, says deputy director-general Kriengkrai Pattanaporn.
Mr Kriengkrai, who is also a spokesman for the department, said since the cabinet approved a draft amendment to ministerial regulations regarding liquor and beer production on Nov 1 last year, only one small producer applied for a licence to upgrade to a medium-sized enterprise. The lack of applications was attributed to the uneven economic recovery, causing entrepreneurs at the community level to be hesitant about expanding their businesses.
Registration for liquor production for non-commercial purposes is allowed for individuals age 20 or older as well as companies, provided the production gains prior approval from the Excise Department.
There are a total of 1,800 registered community liquor producers.
According to a 2017 ministerial regulation, individuals who want to set up a small enterprise to produce liquor are required to have a minimum of 5 horsepower (hp) and seven employees.
Under the amended rule, the requirement for production rate and number of employees rises from 5hp to 50hp, and from seven to 50 employees.
Community-based liquor producers that want to grow from a small to a medium-sized enterprise must be licensed fermented or distilled liquor producers for at least one year and have no excise tax law violations. They should have no offences on their record, but if producers do have a violation it must be at least one year since the punishment.
The amendment also removes restrictions on brewpubs' minimum registered capital and production capacity. Previously, brewpubs had to produce between 100,000 and 1 million litres per year.
Now only large breweries are required to comply with requirements for annual production and registered capital, set at 10 million litres and 10 million baht.
These moves should stimulate the economy at the community level and encourage the processing of farm produce to generate value-added products, said Mr Kriengkrai.
He said the amendment eliminates some limitations to support business operators expanding production capacity.
The draft amendment was approved by the cabinet on Nov 1, 2022 and enacted the following day.
The Move Forward Party's so-called Progressive Liquor Bill was voted down in parliament on Nov 2 by 196 votes to 194, with 15 abstentions.
The bill sought to break the monopoly held by a few corporate distillers and allow small-scale producers to enter the market.