Lotte Wellfood Starts Operation of Third Line for Choco Pie in Chennai, India

300 Billion KRW Investment and Expansion Due to Local Demand Increase
Annual Production Capacity Increased by 1.5 Times
This Year's Lotte Choco Pie Sales Target 80 Billion KRW

Lotte Wellfood (formerly Lotte Confectionery) announced on the 10th that it will officially operate the third production line of Lotte Choco Pie at its Chennai factory of its Indian subsidiary, Lotte India, after investing about 30 billion KRW for expansion. As Lotte Choco Pie has emerged as a ‘national snack’ in India and sales have rapidly increased, a new Choco Pie production line was added at the Chennai factory.

Overview of LOTTE INDIA's Chennai factory in India

Lotte Wellfood began local production of Choco Pie at its Chennai factory in southern India in 2010, and in 2015, it newly built a Choco Pie factory near Haryana, New Delhi, in northern India. The New Delhi Choco Pie factory was established on a site of 76,033㎡ (about 23,000 pyeong) with a total floor area of 24,793㎡ (about 7,500 pyeong), with an investment of about 70 billion KRW.

The average operating rate of the two existing Choco Pie production lines exceeded about 104% as of last year, and to respond to future demand increases, the decision was made to invest in the expansion of the third Choco Pie line. Nearly 30 billion KRW was invested in infrastructure such as manufacturing lines and refrigerated warehouses, and after one year of expansion construction, Lotte Choco Pie is about to be shipped as production has officially started.

With the expansion of the third Choco Pie line at the Chennai factory, the annual production capacity will increase by about 1.5 times or more. Once the new production line is fully operational, an additional annual production volume of about 400 million packs can be stably secured. Based on the expanded production capacity, Lotte Wellfood set this year’s local Lotte Choco Pie brand sales target at 80 billion KRW, an increase of about 20% compared to the previous year. Lotte Choco Pie, which holds a market share of 80% in the Indian Choco Pie market, plans to further solidify its leading position by widening the market share gap in the future.

Meanwhile, Lotte Wellfood entered India for the first time among domestic food companies by acquiring the Indian confectionery company Parrys in 2004. Last year, Lotte India’s sales performance was 92.9 billion KRW, up about 31% compared to 2021. The sales of the Lotte Choco Pie brand recorded about 50 billion KRW in 2021 and about 65 billion KRW in 2022.

A Lotte Wellfood official said, "This year, based on supply stabilization through production line expansion, our goal is to achieve more than 20% growth in the Indian market compared to the previous year through aggressive marketing," adding, "We will continue to make strategic investments so that the Lotte brand can be at the center of the K-food wave in global markets including India, based on thorough localization strategies."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.