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| CheongKwanJang's brand promotional poster / Courtesy of KGC |
By Kim Jae-heun
Korea Ginseng Corporation's (KGC) representative red ginseng brand CheongKwanJang topped the global ginseng retail market sales, according to Euromonitor International.
The market research firm's 2022 report showed the size of the global ginseng market reached $2.47 billion (3.12 trillion won) last year. CheongKwanJang took a 41.9 percent global market share with its sales of about $1.03 billion to become the No. 1 brand.
However, the report only studied processed ginseng products such as those made from concentrated extract or ginseng roots sold at retail stores and it excluded sales of fresh ginseng or wholesales records.
CheongKwanJang, which topped the list in 2013 with $731 million in revenue, has achieved sales growth of about 42 percent from a decade ago, winning the honor becoming the No.1 brand in the world for 10 consecutive years.
"We were able to once again confirm the status of Korea, the birthplace of ginseng, and CheongKwanJang, the world's No.1 ginseng brand, through Euromonitor's report. We will continue to take the lead in globalization of Korean ginseng until we can fully take care of people's health around the world," a KGC official said.
The actual sales volume of Ginsana ― a Swiss affiliate of the Australian multinational pharmaceutical company SFI, which is often mentioned as an excellent example of the global ginseng industry ― was significantly different from what was expected.
Ginsana's total sales in 2022 showed $9.3 million, which accounts for only 0.4 percent of the global ginseng retail market, ranking it 18th.
Meanwhile, KGC's sales and operating profit in the third quarter of last year marked 429 billion won and 74.8 billion won, respectively, up 2.7 percent and 9.2 percent, year-on-year. The company's bolstered overseas exports were largely cited for its achievements. KGC's overseas sales in between July and September in 2022 rose 6.9 percent year-on-year to record 50.8 billion won.
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