Going All In on the Rapidly Growing Ready Meals and K-Food Expansion... Preparing for the Future with Eco-Friendly Practices

Food Industry's Post-COVID Strategy
Intense Competition in the 5 Trillion Won Ready Meal Market
Eco-Friendly Management Without Labels Is Essential

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Seon-ae] The food industry, which enjoyed an unexpected boom due to the impact of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), is moving swiftly to continue its growth in the 'post-COVID' era. In overseas markets, K-food investments are accelerating to further enhance the value of ramen, dumplings, and other products that have rewritten the history of the Korean food wave by being re-evaluated as emergency foods due to COVID-19. In the domestic market, efforts are focused on improving the quality of home meal replacements (HMR), which have dominated dining tables, while also speeding up the strengthening of online food systems suitable for the untact (contactless) era.

◆Rapid Growth of HMR

According to the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation on the 15th, the domestic HMR market size exceeded 4 trillion won last year. The corporation had predicted the HMR market size to grow to about 5 trillion won in 2022, but it expects this to be achieved much earlier due to COVID-19. The corporation forecasts that this year, the sales of food and beverage manufacturing (based on manufacturers with one or more employees) will grow by 3.9% to approximately 136.2 trillion won compared to last year.

This year, the HMR market is expected to evolve one step further into 'healthy convenience foods.' CJ CheilJedang, which has led market growth, launched the premium HMR brand 'The Bibigo' last November to lead the market restructuring toward healthy convenience foods. The Bibigo brand emphasizes sodium reduction and nutritional enhancement. According to Euromonitor, the healthy convenience food market in advanced countries such as the US and Europe is formed at a scale of about 10 trillion won.

◆Investing in K-Food Overseas

Last year, exports of ramen, kimchi, ice cream, and other products reached record highs, and in the case of dumplings, CJ CheilJedang's 'Bibigo Dumplings' achieved annual sales of 1 trillion won, rewriting the history of the food industry.

Companies are strategizing to prepare for the post-COVID era by expanding overseas business. CJ CheilJedang is actively developing the North American market, building on the Bibigo Dumplings' success of achieving 1 trillion won in overseas sales last year. Recently, with support from the South Dakota state government in the US Midwest, they secured a 1.7 million pyeong (approximately 5.6 million square meters) production site in Sioux Falls.

Daesang aims to accelerate its overseas market penetration, including the US, with its brands Cheongjeongwon and Jongga Jip, aspiring to achieve '1 trillion won in global business sales.' Nongshim is also accelerating the expansion of local factories overseas, including in the US and China.

Orion 'Flexo' printed product image.

◆New Trend in Eco-Friendly Management

The food industry has also decided to focus on eco-friendly management. CJ CheilJedang is reducing the amount of plastic used in Hetbahn (ready-to-eat rice). The plastic thickness of Hetbahn products has been reduced from 1.3 mm in the past to 0.7 mm, decreasing usage by more than 40%. SPC Group is applying eco-friendly printing technology to packaging films that wrap bread and food through its packaging production affiliate SPC Pack, applying it to all products of affiliated brands such as Paris Baguette and SPC Samlip. Binggrae was the first in the industry to reduce plastic usage by mixing calcium carbonate into the cups of its spoonable yogurt, Yoplait.

Murabel Water Iceis Eco 3 Types

Orion has drastically reduced ink usage by investing 11.8 billion won since 2018. Lotte Chilsung Beverage launched the industry's first label-free bottled water, Icis ECO, last year, receiving great response from consumers who value environmentally conscious consumption. Approximately 10.1 million units were sold over the past year.

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