Lotte Wellfood announced on Jan. 31 that it has selected India as the first overseas production base for LOTTE Peppero brand, which has global sales of nearly 200 billion won.
The company has decided to invest 2.1 billion won ($3.3 billion) in new facilities for local production of Pepero at the Haryana plant of its local subsidiary, LOTTE India.
LOTTE Wellfood CEO Lee Chang-yup visited India on Jan. 29 for his first overseas visit of the year and announced specific plans for the establishment of this global production base and future investments. The strategy is to accelerate its growth as a global integrated food company through new investments in major countries, including India, and active market expansion.
With the goal of full-scale local production in India in mid-2025, the company will secure idle space in its Haryana factory to build automated production lines for products with high local demand, such as Original Pepero and Crunchy Pepero. The distribution volume, which was previously produced entirely domestically and exported overseas, will be directly procured from the newly built Pepero production line, enabling the company to expand domestic sales in India and export to neighboring countries.
Through this investment, Lotte will be able to introduce optimal products that meet local consumer tastes to the global market. One of the success factors of LOTTE's chocolate pie in India is the development of vegetarian chocolate pie by replacing animal gelatin used in marshmallows with plant-based ingredients. The company plans to develop and introduce localized Lotte Pepero products that reflect the local food culture and eating environment according to the climate.
Lotte Wellfood became the first Korean food company to enter India when it acquired Indian confectioner Parrys in 2004. The investment was made to solidify Lotte's brand presence in India, the world's most populous country with a confectionery market worth about 17 trillion won.
Following LOTTE Choco Pie, LOTTE Wellfoods will focus on stabilizing the highly marketable LOTTE Pepero brand in the country and developing it into a global brand. Utilizing the existing sales network of the LOTTE Choco Pie brand, the strategy is to first target the premium market represented by hypermarkets and e-commerce channels, and later expand to smaller traditional channels.
Meanwhile, Lotte India recorded sales of KRW 92.9 billion in 2022 and KRW 107.5 billion in 2023, and aims to increase sales by more than 20% year-on-year this year.
