[Featured Stock] Sempio Foods, 78 Years of 'K-Food' Focus... Accelerating Expansion to Meet Global Demand

As the popularity of K-food spreads beyond the United States to the global stage, Sempio Foods' stock price is also rising. Since its founding in 1946, Sempio Foods has focused on soy sauce, doenjang, and gochujang for 78 years, specializing in cooking sauces, home meal replacements (HMR), teas, and noodles. The company is expected to accelerate its overseas expansion. By 2028, it plans to build a new factory on an approximately 81,000㎡ site within the 2nd Industrial Complex in Jecheon, Chungbuk. The investment aims to expand production facilities for key products to actively respond to global demand. Sempio Foods currently operates factories in Icheon, Gyeonggi; Yeongdong, Chungbuk; and Jochiwon, Sejong City.

At 10:34 a.m. on the 20th, Sempio Foods was trading at 40,950 KRW, up 7.48% from the previous day.

The Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation (aT) held a K-Food Fair from the 12th to the 16th in Lyon, the gastronomic capital of France. The event reportedly received a warm response from locals. Over the past decade, K-food exports to France have tripled. aT plans to leverage France as a foothold to expand exports to the European market.

Sempio Foods continues to invest in overseas expansion. Park Yonghak, Executive Director and eldest son of CEO Park Jinseon, is in charge of overseas business. Last month, Sempio participated as a sponsor in the Korean food exchange event "Cor?e d’Or: The Golden Land Korea" held at the Dijon Gastronomy Expo in France, promoting "K Sauce."

They are building a large-scale production plant in Jecheon, Chungbuk, to secure overseas demand for K-food. Sempio is also intensifying its bio-material business using microbial fermentation technology. In 2013, Sempio established the ‘Woori Fermentation Research Center,’ Asia’s only plant-based fermentation research institute, investing 4-5% of annual sales in research and development. The ‘Yoriyessence Yeondu,’ which reinterprets soybean fermentation technology for overseas local markets, has seen steadily increasing demand abroad.

More than 20% of all employees are research personnel, dedicated to developing various foods and materials based on microbial fermentation technology. Sempio was the first in Korea to restore traditional Korean soy sauce and succeeded in mass-producing ‘Clear Joseon Soy Sauce.’ The company has won several awards for its soybean fermentation essence ‘Yeondu,’ striving to let foreigners experience the traditional Korean taste.

At the investment agreement ceremony in April, CEO Park Jinseon said, "Sempio is not only a leading Korean food company but also a biotech company researching and developing various materials using its unique microbial control technology accumulated over 78 years. We will dramatically advance Sempio’s fermentation technology so that people in Korea and around the world can enjoy our flavors even more."

Sempio Foods, the number one soy sauce company in the domestic market, recently raised the average price of its soy sauce products by 7.8%. About 30 items were affected, with the flagship product ‘Sempio Brewed Soy Sauce 501’ seeing an 11.8% price increase. This price hike is expected to improve profitability.