CJ CheilJedang to increase alternative foods twentyfold in 3 years

Models hold CJ CheilJedang's new plant-based dumpling and rice ball products at the company's headquarters in Seoul, on July 18. Courtesy of CJ CheilJedang

By Kim Jae-heun

CJ CheilJedang has been developing vegetable-based alternative foods as a new growth engine since more consumers have become increasingly environmentally-conscious and have been moving away from meat and other animal-protein products, company officials said, Tuesday. In particular, the company sees big business potential in North America and Europe, where meat accounts for larger portions of the local diets than in other regions.

CJ CheilJedang recently unveiled its short-term goal to increase its sales coming from the plant-derived food business by 20 times over the next three years. It currently shows 10 billion won ($7.61 million) of revenue in the field and the company hopes to increase it to 200 billion won by 2025.

“About 38 percent of the world's population pursues a vegetarian diet. They are both people who were originally vegetarians and people who eat meat but are willing to increase their vegan dishes more,” a CJ CheilJedang official said. “Given that Korea is a country restricted from exporting meat products due to occasional outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease, the company's alternative meat business will boost the popularity of Korean food around the world.”

In December, the food firm launched vegetarian food brand “Plan Table” and introduced a vegan dumpling product. This month, CJ CheilJedang added new menu items, such as grilled short-rib patties, hamburgers and rice balls in its plant-derived foods category.

According to research firm Euromonitors, the global alternative meat market reached 7.4 trillion won as of 2020. This figure only counts simple products such as lab meat, and meal-kit products made with plant-derived foods. Here, CJ CheilJedang believes the market can grow to 35 trillion won over the next 10 years as more alternative food items are invented.

Muslim countries in Southeast Asia are another big market for the food firm as people there have a keen interest in Korean culture.

Specifically, Indonesia is home to the fourth-largest population in the world, of 270 million people, and 87.2 percent of them are Muslims. Muslims cannot eat pork, so they would make good future customers of CJ CheilJedang, according to the firm.