Lithuania's oldest beer brewer is now exploring the emerging Taiwan market in the wake of a naming row over the newly-opened Taiwanese representative office in Vilnius that led to a ban on products from the Baltic state in China.

During an interview conducted earlier this month, Marius Horbacauskas, CEO of Lithuanian beer brand Volfas Engelman, said his company had entered the Taiwan market in mid-2020, and while sales were poor for the first year, with only 8,000 liters sold, this gave way to a boom in 2021 after beer exports to Taiwan increased by 23 times.

Horbacauskas is thrilled that Taiwanese consumers like his company's products. "For us, it is a very big motivation."

The skyrocketing sales may have something to do with a campaign launched by Taiwan's government to show support to Lithuania products, which are facing a boycott from China.

Ties between Vilnius and Beijing soured after Lithuania allowed Taiwan to open an overseas representative office that included the word "Taiwanese" in its name in November 2021.

Beijing, which sees Taiwan and mainland China as part of one country, has sought to impose a political cost on Lithuania for its decision to allow the use of "Taiwanese" in the name of the office, seeing such moves as encouraging formal independence.

Recent punitive measures have included recalling its ambassador to Lithuania, downgrading diplomatic relations, expelling the Lithuanian ambassador to China, as well as suspending direct freight rail services and banning Lithuanian products from entering the Chinese market.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel