Confirmed Factory Site Equivalent to 16 Soccer Fields in Hungary
Construction Begins on North America's Largest Food Production Base in South Dakota
CJ CheilJedang is accelerating its global territorial expansion by expanding its overseas food production capabilities.
CJ CheilJedang announced on the 21st that it will invest 800 billion KRW to build new factories in Hungary and South Dakota, USA. Through this, the company aims to scale up its business in Europe, a new growth strategy region, and strengthen its market position in the core country, the United States.
CJ CheilJedang has decided on the site to build a factory in Hungary equivalent to the size of 16 soccer fields. It will invest about 100 billion KRW to construct the factory in Dunabars?ny, near Budapest, Hungary. The factory will be equipped with state-of-the-art automated production lines and is scheduled to produce Bibigo dumplings for sale in the European market starting in the second half of 2026. There are also plans to expand the production line for Bibigo chicken in the future. This is the first time CheilJedang is building its own production factory in Europe.
Through the Hungary factory, CheilJedang plans to actively respond to the European dumpling market demand, which is growing over 30% annually, and to expand its European business in earnest by using Hungary as a base to enter neighboring Central and Eastern European countries such as Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and the Balkan Peninsula. In this regard, the company secured support necessary for factory construction from the Hungarian government and announced the construction plan yesterday locally with the Hungarian Investment Agency.
In the United States, its frozen food subsidiary Schwans has started construction of a new North American Asian food factory in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, aiming for completion in 2027. The factory will be built on a site equivalent to 80 soccer fields (575,000㎡). The initial investment amount is about 700 billion KRW. Once completed, the factory will be the largest Asian food manufacturing facility in North America, equipped with production lines for steamed dumplings and egg rolls, wastewater treatment facilities, and logistics centers, serving as a production hub in the central United States. South Dakota, located in the central US, has excellent road and air infrastructure and a state government that implements business-friendly policies, making it an optimal location for a production base. CheilJedang plans to solidify Bibigo's No. 1 position (42% market share) in the US dumpling market between companies and consumers by leveraging the South Dakota factory.
Since January through September this year, Bibigo dumplings recorded a sales growth rate of 33% in the US dumpling market, more than double the overall market growth rate of 15%, so the strategy is to achieve a super-gap competitiveness through increased production capacity. Along with this, the company plans to increase sales in the local roll market, which is worth about 1 trillion KRW, further solidifying its status as the 'No. 1 Asian food company in the US.'
On the 13th, a groundbreaking ceremony was held at the factory site attended by Park Min-seok, CEO of CheilJedang Food Division, and other executives, along with Kristi Noem, Governor of South Dakota. CEO Park said, "This investment is of great strategic importance to respond to the increasing food demand in the United States."
CheilJedang is actively increasing production capacity to further strengthen its high-growth global food business. Overseas food business sales of CheilJedang increased by more than 70% over four years, from 31.54 trillion KRW in 2019 to 50.386 trillion KRW last year. During the same period, the proportion of overseas sales in total food sales also rose from 39% to 48%. Among these, Europe is a strategic region for CheilJedang's global food territorial expansion, with sales in the third quarter of this year increasing by 40% compared to a year earlier, and the US is a core market accounting for more than 80% of overseas food business sales. A CheilJedang official said, "Through proactive investment in production capacity for the future, we will lead the global spread of food and become a true 'global leading company.'"
CheilJedang has steadily increased overseas local production facilities for global expansion. In the US, it operates a total of 20 food production facilities, including the Schwans factory acquired in 2019. In Europe, it secured its first production base by acquiring the German frozen food company Meinprosst in 2018, and in May this year, it established corporations in France and Hungary to actively promote local business. In 2022, it completed the Kidsna factory in Vietnam, which was the first to apply the method of producing overseas for overseas export, and recently secured an original equipment manufacturing facility in Australia to produce dumplings and kimchi.
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