Andrea Shalal and Diane Bartz

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – The U.S. Treasury Department raised concerns Wednesday about the consolidation of the annual U.S. Alcohol Market of $250 billion. It also proposed reforms that could increase competition and help consumers save hundreds of millions each year.

According to the 63-page Treasury Report, new merger and acquisition scrutiny and different tax rates would help make the market more fair for new brewers, and lower the regulatory burden for consumers in wine, beer, and spirit markets.

Long-awaited reports are due to be published Wednesday. They form part of the July executive order regarding competitiveness. This is the latest push from the Biden Administration to combat what it calls excessive consolidation in various industries such as shipping and meatpacking.

Over 800 comments were received by the Treasury on the matter. The Treasury then proposed tighter Department of Justice oversight, Federal Trade Commission oversight, and new rulemaking in the report. This was viewed and cited by Reuters.

In the United States, there have been thousands of new wineries, breweries and distilleries in the past decade.

However, small-scale businesses may struggle to survive and thrive in a complex web of federal and state regulations.

Anheuser Busch InBev, and Anheuser Busch InBev are the two biggest brewers of beer in America. Molson Coors (NYSE) – accounts for approximately 65% of U.S. beers revenues.

According to a senior U.S. official, “We are determined to safeguard what has been an extremely successful and vibrant industry that has attracted a lot small businesses to it,” as well as tackling problems that “leads to excessive consumer prices.”

The so-called “post-and-hold” laws that restrict price competition have led beer drinkers to pay an extra $487 million per year. This can cause wine consumers to spend up 18% more on wine than necessary and over 30% for spirits, the report stated, citing study results.

Treasury suggested that FTC and DOJ should examine the proposed acquisitions of smaller companies by larger ones. These deals have been criticized for lowering prices in the past.

It also recommended that the Treasury Department’s Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau(TTB) change the labeling rules to help protect the public health and reduce lobbying. In Washington, there were 303 lobbyists working for alcohol companies as of 2017.

Treasury stated that the U.S. states, which have the majority of the oversight authority, should investigate the anticompetitive effects of franchise and regulations on small producers.