The Legislative Yuan has passed the revision to the Tobacco and Liquor Tax Act on Thursday, which is expected to cut the price of rice wine by half. The product will also be repositioned as culinary wine in an attempt to avoid potential opposition from other WTO members.

On Friday, the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment to the Tobacco and Alcohol Tax Act that halves the retail price of 0.6-liter red label rice wine from 50 NT to 25 NT per bottle.

Although tax revenues will decrease by an estimated 1.47 billion NT, the Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corporation estimates that annual sales will rise to 120 million bottles.

The price adjustment will be implemented at the end of the month at the earliest.

Once the change goes into effect, TTLC will debut new labels with a picture of a chef on the upper left corner and the words "Cooking Rice Wine" on the bottom as an indication of the contents.

Consumers with bottles of rice wine purchased at the current price of 50 NT can get a second bottle free at retail stores once the price adjustment goes into effect.

In the meantime, officials hope that the new policy won't result in any international trade disputes.

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