Lotte Group makes foray into food business

SEOUL, Dec. 8 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's fifth-largest industrial conglomerate Lotte Group on Tuesday launched a premium food brand in its first foray into the food business.

The move is expected to heat up competition with CJ Cheiljedang Corp. and Daesang
Corp., which have dominated the nation's market for instant noodles, sauces and
edible oils.
Lotte launched the food brand "Chefood" and also plans to begin selling about 50
food items starting from January next year, group officials said.
"We are confident that our foray into the food business will be successful," a
Lotte official said.
So far, Lotte has engaged in snack manufacturing, fast food and beverages
throughout its subsidiary Lotte Samkang Co.
The foray is a part of Lotte's efforts to generate 22 trillion won (US$19
billion)in annual revenues by 2018, group officials said.
Currently, Lotte Samkang's annual revenues stood at some 450 billion won. Group
officials said the foray would help Lotte Samkang increase annual revenues to 1.5
trillion won by 2012.
(END)