Inspection of Lotte Wellfood's Local Subsidiary and Production Facilities
Shin Dong-bin, Chairman of Lotte Group, has chosen India as the first overseas business site to visit in 2025.
According to the business community on the 3rd, Chairman Shin recently embarked on a business trip to India. This marks his first visit to New Delhi in nine years since 2016, when he attended the 'Korea-India Business Summit' along with other major conglomerate heads. It is reported that Chairman Shin plans to tour key confectionery production facilities operated by Lotte Wellfood in India.
Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin is attending the 'AI (Artificial Intelligence) Project Showcase' of major affiliates held prior to the 2025 first half Lotte VCM (Value Creation Meeting, formerly the Presidents' Meeting) at Lotte World Tower in Jamsil, Songpa-gu, Seoul, on the afternoon of the 9th of last month, listening to an explanation about Lotte Chemical's AI-based color prediction system. Photo by Yonhap News
India, with the world's largest population of 1.4 billion, is a core market where Lotte Wellfood expects sales growth this year. The size of the Indian confectionery market reaches approximately 17 trillion won.
Earlier, Lotte Wellfood entered the Indian confectionery market for the first time in the domestic food industry by acquiring Paris (now Lotte India), an Indian confectionery company, in 2004. Last year, it also established an integrated corporation by merging Lotte India with Havmore, a subsidiary in the Indian dried fruit and ice cream sectors.
Production facilities have also been steadily expanding. In the first quarter of this year, Havmore's new ice cream production facility is set to begin operations. Lotte Wellfood has invested about 70 billion won in this factory located in Pune, Maharashtra, India. The sales of Lotte Wellfood's Indian subsidiary are estimated to have reached around 290 billion won last year and are expected to increase to about 338.3 billion won this year.
The first overseas production base of the 'Pepero brand,' which boasts global sales of 200 billion won, has also been established in India. The Pepero production facility, built with an investment of 2.1 billion rupees (approximately 33 billion won) at Lotte India's Haryana plant, aims to start operations in the second half of this year. This first overseas Pepero production line plans to actively produce products with high local demand, such as Original Pepero and Crunky Pepero.
Previously, in September last year, Chairman Shin presided over the 'One Lotte Food Company Strategy Meeting' held in Warsaw, Poland, where Korean and Japanese Lotte affiliates agreed to collaborate to nurture a global mega brand with annual sales of 1 trillion won. Pepero was selected as the first strategic product. Chairman Shin's visit to India this time is interpreted as a move to support this strategy.
At the 2025 first half VCM (Value Creation Meeting, formerly the Presidents' Meeting) held on the 9th of last month, Chairman Shin emphasized, "Considering the domestic economy and population outlook, pioneering overseas markets is the most important goal for the group's growth," and urged, "Analyze overseas markets thoroughly and establish differentiated business strategies to gain competitiveness in the global market."
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