South Korean food major Lotte Wellfood, best known to Indians for its Lotte Choco Pie and Havmor ice-creams, will step up investment in the country as it seeks a greater share of the domestic food market, said CEO Paul Yi. The company is also looking at India as an export hub to neighbouring regions such as West Asia and Africa. And will tap into the Korean food fad in India by launching a Korean biscuit called Pepero, a chocolate-coated biscuit stick, by July this year. Yi was in Talegaon, near Pune, to inaugurate Havmor’s third and largest ice-cream plant in the country.
Speaking at a select media round table on Thursday, Yi said the firm was planning an additional $300-million (`2,600 crore) investment into India over the next 3-5 years. The firm was also eyeing new categories such as snacks, cakes, biscuits and cookies as part of its overall growth push here.
“We have a 5% market share in the domestic ice-cream market. The runway for growth is significant in the $3-billion domestic ice-cream market. India is a growing market for us and one where we see enormous potential for not only ice-creams, but also other food categories, given its large consumer base. The additional investment demonstrates our commitment to India,” Yi said.
The need to step up also comes as the local confectionary (under Lotte India) and ice-cream (Havmor Ice-Cream India) units of Lotte Wellfood merge by the end of the current financial year (FY25). The merger will create a $350-million-strong entity (nearly Rs 3,000 crore) in the country. The merged company will look to double its turnover to Rs 6,000 crore over the next six years, Lotte Wellfood had said in August last year.
The new investment will come on the back of a nearly `500-crore fund infusion by Lotte Wellfood to set up Havmor’s Talegaon facility. Havmor has two other ice-cream plants in Gujarat and Haryana each. Havmor was acquired in December 2017 by the Lotte group for `1,000 crore. While Lotte India was set up after the 2004 acquisition of Parry Confectionery from the Murugappa group.
The Talegaon plant of Havmor, which has an annual production capacity of 50 million litres, was inaugurated on Thursday by Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. The capacity will be expanded to 100 million litres in the next few years as more lines are added, Yi said. This expansion will help Havmor extend its coverage from the west to the south-central regions of India. The company will also increase its distribution push into urban and rural areas in the south-central belt following the launch of the Talegaon facility.
(The writer was in Talegaon at the invitation of the company)