TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan Sugar Corporation (Taisugar, TSC) is reinventing itself as a distiller with the ambition of launching signature rum products that it hopes will be served at state banquets.

Taiwan boasts an optimal environment for growing sugarcane, a plant used for sugar production and as a material to make rum. The state-run enterprise decided that its sugarcane know-how should not be squandered.

Huang Yi-jen (黃怡仁), head of the Taiwan Sugar Research Institute (TSRI), a research branch of Taisugar, told CNA that sugar refineries have the expertise and technologies needed to produce liquor. The initiative is expected to boost the profitability of the company, he added.

Beer takes the lion’s share of the alcoholic drinks market in Taiwan, at 90%, while liquors such as whisky, brandy, and wine account for 3.6%, per CNA. Taisugar is eying the high-end market of rum and trying to find a niche amid fierce competition from established foreign producers.

It plans to launch two lines of products, one for premium rums priced from NT$2,000 (US$66.7) a bottle, which will be used to entertain guests at state banquets and given as gifts. The other focuses on less costly options but without compromising the quality of the spirits.

Six Taisugar rums are expected to hit the market in 2026 and rake in annual revenue of NT$35 million. The venture will be accompanied by marketing campaigns that promote the country’s sugar-related cultures and industries, said Taisugar.