Dongwon F&B set to sweep China with canned tuna
Dongwon F&B hosts a tasting event for its canned tuna at a discount store in China in this photo taken last October. The company aims to post 500 billion won in annual sales of canned tuna there by 2018. / Courtesy of Dongwon F&B
By Park Si-soo
This is the second in a series of articles on Korean food companies and restaurants seeking to expand overseas ㅡ ED.
Park Sung-chil CEO of Dongwon F&B
Dongwon F&B is flexing its muscles to ensure that canned tuna becomes an essential side dish in China.
The country’s largest provider of canned tuna recently signed a contract with Chinese retail giant Bright Food Group to make its products available at nearly 10,000 convenience stores, supermarkets and large discount outlets such as Carrefour and Tesco across the country starting from the second quarter of the year.
The company also developed three new flavors that have proven to be attractive to Chinese consumers ㅡ spicy, sweet and greasy ㅡ to enable a smooth entry into a market of more than 1.3 billion people. The new flavors were developed based on extensive research and tests on Chinese people in Korea, the firm said.
“The canned tuna market of China is still small. But there is huge room to grow,” said Park Eun-kyung, a spokesperson for Dongwon F&B. “The size of the market is expanding because people’s average income is increasing and their taste is increasingly westernized.”
The firm said the value of China’s canned tuna market is estimated at 50 billion won ($45 million). Dongwon aims to post 500 billion won in annual sales there by 2018.
“Canned tuna is our new growth engine,” said Eun Yoon-hyun, head of the overseas sales department. “We will continue to bolster our presence in China with brisk sales of canned tuna as well as our signature products based on dried seaweed and kimchi.”
Dongwon exports dried seaweed and kimchi to nearly 30 countries, mainly Japan and the United States. The firm’s combined sales last year amounted to 1.19 trillion won, including $50 million generated by exports.
The sales of canned tuna in China will help increase the sales of the two other exports items in the neighboring country, said market observers, adding that the firm’s combined sales for this year will reach 1.8 trillion won.
Dongwon is also working to add red ginseng to its product line, a move to join the fast-growing health food industry.
The firm launched its own red ginseng brand “Chunjiin” in 2007 and has established a sales network in 43 countries, posting 17 billion won in sales in 2010. The firm established a red ginseng-manufacturing plant in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province, in 2010.
The health food unit aims to post 100 billion won in annual sales, including 30 billion won from exports, by next year.