Pulmuone announced on April 3 that the company’s Chinese subsidiary completed the construction of its second Beijing plant with a state-of-the-art packed tofu production line located on the site of its existing plant in the Pinggu District in Beijing, China to quadruple its annual tofu production capacity to 60 million and secure the ability to stably supply tofu products in China on a nationwide scale.
Pulmuone invested KRW 30 billion for a year and three months from the end of 2020 to complete the 12,145 square meters wide, three floored plant which is equipped with a state-of-the-art, fully automated production system and a low temperature-controlled supply chain.
Pulmuone also more than doubled its annual refrigerated pasta production capacity from 45 million to 100 million through the relocation of the production lines of the existing Beijing plant to respond to the escalating demand from the local consumers and foster the plant as a the main pillar for home meal replacement (HMR) production to expand its presence in the refrigerated noodle and past market in China.
“Now that the second Beijing plant was completed 10 years after the first was built, we look forward to efficiently coping with the rising demand for tofu in China and continuing to boost the production of tofu and other plant-based foods along with HMR products including noodles and pasta,” said Pulmuone General CEO Hyo-yul Lee. “Pulmuone plans to establish additional facilities for the production of frozen and refrigerated HMR foods in Chongqing, Shanghai and other southern provinces in China to further extend its sales growth rate in the market.”
Pulmuone established its Chinese subsidiary Pumeiduo Foods in Beijing and Shanghai of China in 2010. As a pioneer for HMR foods in the Chinese market, Pumeiduo Foods has gained a competitive edge by directly entering the emerging channels including O2O (online to offline) stores, membership clubs and online retailers with its refrigerated food products and low temperate controlled supply chain.
Sales of Pumeiduo Foods bean products, mainly achieved by its tofu items, increased 26 percent on-year in 2021, and its pasta product sales jumped 55 percent during the same period to lead the company’s sharp growth.
Meanwhile, Pumeiduo Foods posted a profit turnaround and a double-digit profit margin in 2020. The Chinese subsidiary of Pulmuone is growing at an annual average of 71% from 2019 to 2021.
