Taipei, March 19, 2009 (CENS)--To weather the global economic slowdown, the state-run Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Co. (TTL) plans to produce mainland China`s Guizhou Maotai liquor and Jilin Changbaishan cigarette on an OEM (original equipment manufacturer) basis, duplicating that for Philips Morris` Blue Star cigarettes.

TTL said it would raise in-house production equipment utilization rate and revenues by being OEM for well-established foreign liquors and cigarettes.

For the past five years, TTL has been producing Japan`s Sapporo beer as an OEM, generating NT$500 million (US$14.5 million) in additional revenues per year.

More recently, TTL has been negotiating with Japan`s Asahi Co. to OEM brew Asahi liquors sold in Taiwan.

The OEM production of Maotai liquor and Changbaishan cigarettes will help TTL generate an additional NT$3 billion (US$86.95 million) in revenues per year.

Wei believes the TTL will have many opportunities to boost equipment utilization rate amid the global downturn as many of the world`s big names have been scaling down expansion projects and seeking OEMs overseas.


(by Ben Shen)