Liquefied cacao mass is produced inside Lotte Wellfood's manufacturing plant in Yangsan, South Gyeongsang Province, in this February photo. The ingredient is required for some of the company's key products, including Pepero and Choco Pie. Courtesy of Lotte Wellfood
Major confectionery firm Lotte Wellfood has cemented its top chocolate market share in Korea by launching a new production pipeline that processes cacao beans into ingredients for key products, including Pepero.
The Lotte Group subsidiary earlier this month began running a new bean-to-chocolate pipeline inside its largest manufacturing plant in Yangsan, South Gyeongsang Province. The plant is the company’s key base among its six plants nationwide.
The company has replaced its previous pipeline with a new equipment line. The change has enabled the company to increase chocolate production capacity to 2.5 tons per hour from 1 ton per hour. The production process has also been streamlined by 25 percent, improving efficiency in productivity.
The system upgrade has allowed Lotte Wellfood to produce more liquefied cacao mass daily, a key ingredient for chocolates and other products that include chocolate. The company mainly imports cacao beans from Ghana.
Lotte Wellfood has been producing liquefied cacao mass at the Yangsan plant since 1995. The company said this differentiates it from other confectionery makers in the country which, unable to produce liquefied cacao mass, must import solid cacao mass and process it to liquid form.
“We’re the only food company in Korea that processes cacao beans to secure liquefied cacao mass domestically,” a Lotte Wellfood official said.
“The Yangsan plant is the heart of all of our chocolate products. Compared to imported solid cacao mass, freshly processed liquefied cacao mass minimizes the loss of cacao’s unique aroma and maximizes the chocolate’s original flavor.”
As of last year, Lotte Wellfood dominates more than 37 percent of Korea’s chocolate market. Its Indian subsidiary, Lotte India, last year began running a manufacturing plant in India’s Haryana province dedicated to producing Pepero. The plant, with the company’s manufacturing plant in Chennai, India, also produces Choco Pie, establishing what the company describes as a “Choco Pie belt” across northern and southern India.
Source: Korea Times News
