Taipei, Taiwan - China's 1.3 billion hungry mouths pushed three Taiwanese businessmen to the top of Forbes' local rich list this year.

Taiwanese rice snack billionaire Tsai Eng-meng, whose stronghold is in China, remained Taiwan's richest person last year, according to the "Taiwan's 50 Richest" rankings.

Want Want China Holdings Chairman Tsai topped this year's list, with wealth of US$10.6 billion (S$13.3 billion), an increase of US$2.6 billion from a year ago. His Hong Kong-traded shares of Want Want China Holdings have gained more than a fifth from a year ago on solid sales of snacks as well as drinks. Tsai also has investments in the finance, media and hotels industries.

Mainland expenditures on food and beverages also helped this year's No. 3: the Wei brothers of Tingyi Holding, the mainland's biggest supplier of ready-to-drink tea.

In addition to drinks and instant noodles, the Wei family, which in late 2011 announced it will team up with Pepsi in China, also invests in restaurants through its Dicos chicken chain and noodle shops. Family wealth this year totaled US$6.7 billion.

Filling out the top five on this year's list, Tsai Wan-tsai, whose family controls financial services giant Fubon, standing in second place with wealth of US$8.1 billion.

Coming in at No. 4, Terry Gou, whose Apple supplier Hon Hai Precision has overcome numerous labour problems in the past year, stacked a money pile of US$4.8 billion, while No. 5 was tyre maker Luo Jye, with wealth of US$4.6 billion.

Many of Taiwan's rich grew their fortune from a year ago through strong ties with mainland China, the economic growth rate of which is expected to top 7 per cent. Taiwan's domestic economy is on track to expand only about 2 per cent, economists say.

Among other closely watched businesspeople on this year's list, Cher Wang and her husband Wen-chi Chen of smartphone maker HTC, who ranked No. 1 in 2011 with a personal fortune of US$8.8 billion, continued to fall in the ranking for a second year amid disappointing business at the company while engaging in fierce competition globally. This year, the couple ranked No. 13 with wealth of US$2.5 billion.

This year's list for the first time includes 50 Taiwan entrepreneurs, up from 40 last year. Among the newcomers to make the list are No. 41, Lee Shih-Tsung, whose Lungyen Life Service is in the funeral services business. He debuts with projected wealth of US$850 million.