CJ CheilJedang to rev up investment in food additives

SEOUL, Jan. 21 (Yonhap) -- CJ CheilJedang Corp., South Korea's largest food
maker, said Thursday it will increase investment in its food additive business,
aiming to raise sales by more than 11 percent this year.
The company, the world's No.1 manufacturer of lysine and nucleotide, held a
ceremony in the Chinese city of Liaocheng earlier in the day marking the
construction of its second nucleotide plant there.
Construction of the facility, into which the company plans to pour 38 billion won
(US$33.34 million), is projected to be complete with an annual capacity of 4,000
tons by October 2010, it said.
The company hopes to increase its global market share by 4 percentage points to
43 percent by 2013, tightening its grip on the market, it said.
Nucleotide, developed through fermentation technology, is a type of food
seasoning ingredient. The nucleotide market is growing worldwide, with the
Chinese market expanding more than 12 percent annually.
CJ CheilJedang also plans to enhance its generation capacity of lysine, an
essential amino acid often added to animal feed, to a total of 550,000 tons by
2013 to capture a 30 percent share in the lysine market, the company said.
The global lysine market, dominated by CJ CheilJedang, China's Global Bio-chem
Technology Ltd. and Japan's Ajinomoto Co., all of which have about a 22 percent
share of the market, grows 7 percent annually due to rising demand for meat and a
growth in the livestock industry.
CJ CheilJedang will aggressively invest in the lysine business by expanding its
manufacturing facilities in China, the world's largest lysine market. It will
also look into a possible joint venture with or acquisition of a lysine producer,
the company said.
The company hopes its operations in the bio division will generate 1 trillion won
in sales this year. Despite the global economic downturn, it posted sales of 895
billion won in the bio division last year, up 24 percent from a year ago.
jia@yna.co.kr
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