Fizzy drink giants face sugar tax squeeze as sweet crackdown kicks in
Thailand’s fizzy favourites are feeling the pinch as a new sugar tax kicks in, forcing beverage makers to cut the sweet stuff or cough up more cash.
Beverage chiefs and sweet drink producers have been slapped with a sour surprise as the Finance Ministry rolls out the latest phase of Thailand’s sugar tax crackdown, pushing firms to trim the sugar or pay the price.
The Excise Department officially kicked off Phase 4 of the sugar tax on April 1, hot on the heels of Phase 3 wrapping up on March 31. But this isn’t a shock move, it’s the final leg of a long-planned health initiative that’s been sweetly creeping in every two years since 2017, said a source from the ministry.
“The tax increase is not new but part of a scheduled progressive rise.”
The goal? To nudge manufacturers into reducing sugar levels in their drinks in a bid to tackle rising rates of obesity, diabetes, and high blood pressure.
Under the new rules:
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Drinks with 10–14g of sugar per litre now face a 5 baht tax, up from 3 baht
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Those with 6–8g see a jump from 0.3 baht to 1 baht
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Beverages with 8–10g rise from 1 baht to 3 baht
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Drinks with 6g or less stay tax-free
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Products packing 14g+ per litre remain at the max 5 baht per litre
Despite the stiffer levies, officials insist prices at the till won’t bubble over, the Excise Department said.
“The tax adjustment is unlikely to significantly raise drink prices or burden consumers.”
To dodge the sugar sting, many manufacturers have already started reformulating recipes, ditching the syrupy stuff in favour of artificial sweeteners or mixing in less harmful natural sugars.
And the shift is showing in the stats:
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Drinks with 6g or less have skyrocketed from just 90 in 2018 to 4,736 in 2023
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Beverages in the 6–8g range jumped from 758 to 2,900
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Sugar-laden drinks with 14g+ have gone extinct—down from 819 to zero
Even the mid-sweet crowd is thinning out, with drinks in the 10–14g range tumbling from 2,993 to just 524.
With the crackdown in full swing, Thailand’s once sugar-soaked drinks industry is being forced to clean up its act, or swallow the tax.
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