Lotte Wellfood to Produce Pepero in India Following Choco Pie Success

Decision to Invest 33 Billion KRW in New Facilities in India
Local Production Targeted for 2025... Sales in India and Neighboring Countries
Lotte India Surpasses 100 Billion KRW in Sales Last Year

Lotte Wellfood (formerly Lotte Confectionery) has selected India as the first overseas production base for "Pepero," which generates sales of 200 billion KRW.

On the 31st, Lotte Wellfood announced that it has decided to invest 2.1 billion rupees (approximately 33 billion KRW) in new facilities to produce Pepero at the Haryana factory of its local subsidiary, LOTTE India.

Production of popular products such as Pepero and Crunky Pepero starting from 2025

Lee Chang-yeop, CEO of Lotte Wellfood, visited India on the 29th as his first overseas trip of the year. During his visit, he announced detailed plans for establishing this global production base and future investments. The strategy is to accelerate growth as a global comprehensive food company through new investments and active market expansion in key countries including India.

Targeting full-scale local production in India by mid-2025, Lotte Wellfood plans to secure idle space within the Haryana factory to establish automated production lines for products with high local demand such as original Pepero and Crunky Pepero. A Lotte Wellfood official stated, "The distribution volume that was previously entirely produced domestically and exported overseas will now be directly supplied from the newly established Pepero production line, enabling expansion of domestic sales in India and exports to neighboring countries."

Through this investment, Lotte Wellfood plans to actively introduce products tailored to local consumer tastes to the global market. Previously, Lotte succeeded in India by using plant-based marshmallows instead of animal gelatin in Choco Pie. Accordingly, they plan to develop and launch localized Lotte Pepero products that reflect local food culture and climate-related consumption environments.

Lotte Wellfood targets the 17 trillion KRW Indian confectionery market... Promotes Pepero through Choco Pie sales network

Lotte Wellfood entered India in 2004 by acquiring the Indian confectionery company Parrys, becoming the first in the domestic food industry to enter India. This investment was made to solidify the Lotte brand presence in India, which has the world's largest population and a confectionery market worth approximately 17 trillion KRW.

Chocolate is one of the core shopping items favored by consumers in India. In a local survey of about 40,000 people, Lotte Pepero received positive evaluations from 90% of Indian consumers in terms of taste, concept, and overall aspects. It was also recognized as an innovative product due to its differentiated form as a chocolate stick snack. Following Lotte Choco Pie, Lotte Wellfood plans to focus its capabilities on establishing Lotte Pepero, which has high market potential, as a stable local product and nurturing it as a global brand. Utilizing the existing sales network of the Lotte Choco Pie brand, they will first target the premium market represented by large supermarkets and e-commerce channels, then expand to smaller traditional channels later.

Meanwhile, LOTTE India recorded sales of 92.9 billion KRW in 2022 and 107.5 billion KRW in 2023, aiming for more than 20% sales growth this year compared to the previous year. Last year, they invested about 30 billion KRW to fully operate the third Choco Pie production line at the Chennai factory, further solidifying their leading position with about 70% market share in the Indian Choco Pie market.

Lotte Wellfood’s Indian ice cream subsidiary, Havmor Ice Cream, also plans to operate a new ice cream production facility this year with an investment of about 7 billion KRW. This is the first new factory since acquisition, applying advanced Korean food manufacturing technologies such as automation. Havmor holds the number one market share in the ice cream market in western India.

Lee Chang-yeop, CEO of Lotte Wellfood, said, “We will actively expand our investment in the Indian market, which has enormous growth potential based on its huge population. Following Lotte Choco Pie, we will implement a thorough localization strategy to enhance the Lotte brand power and increase sales in the Indian market by leading with Lotte Pepero, which has strong brand power.”