Targeting the 15 Trillion Won Chinese Probiotics Market
'Deusimone' Export and Strategic Partnership
Hecto Healthcare, a subsidiary of Hecto Innovation, announced on the 10th that it is entering the Chinese probiotics market worth 15 trillion KRW in partnership with China National Pharmaceutical Group Corporation (Sinopharm Group), the largest state-owned pharmaceutical company in China.
Hecto Healthcare signed a distribution contract worth at least 155 billion KRW over five years with Sinopharm Group's pharmaceutical specialist company, Sinomedi, for its flagship premium probiotic product line, Dr. Simone.
At the agreement ceremony between Hecto Healthcare and Sinomedi, attendees including Kim Seok-jin, CEO of Hecto Healthcare (third from the right), are posing for a commemorative photo.
Sinopharm Group is the largest pharmaceutical group in China, operating drug development, production, sales, and medical services including hospitals and pharmacies, and ranks among the world's top 10 pharmaceutical companies. Its sales volume reaches 124 trillion KRW, and Sinomedi, established as its subsidiary, is a leading Chinese pharmaceutical and health functional food company with sales of 13 trillion KRW last year.
On the 9th, the two companies held a signing ceremony for the export-import contract and agreed on the priority supply of four types of Dr. Simone products and future business cooperation. According to the contract, the two companies plan to actively promote business in the health functional food and healthcare sectors starting with Dr. Simone and cooperate on the additional development of products to meet local demand.
Sinopharm Group plans to distribute Dr. Simone throughout China based on more than 150,000 offline distribution channels. They will also actively operate online channels. In addition to a dedicated flagship store for Dr. Simone, they intend to rapidly expand distribution using all channels of China's leading e-commerce platforms.
Kim Seok-jin, CEO of Hecto Healthcare, said, “By taking the first successful step into the Chinese premium health functional food market through a strategic partnership with China’s top state-owned pharmaceutical company, we expect effective market preemption,” and “We plan to accelerate overseas market entry into Southeast Asian countries including Vietnam and Japan following our entry into the Chinese market.”
Meanwhile, according to the Chinese market research firm iMei Research, the size of the Chinese health functional food market in 2023 is estimated at about 63 trillion KRW. Among this, the probiotics market is approximately 15 trillion KRW in size.
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