A palm oil plant that has been put online by Daesang Co. in Kalimantan, Indonesia, capable of 

turning out 35,000 tons of palm oil annually.

Daesang Holdings has put online its palm oil plant in Indonesia with an 11,130 square-meter palm tree farm in Kublia, north Kalimantan, which is 25 times bigger than Yeouido, Seoul, the company announced on June 10.

The company projected that the palm oil plant will produce 35,000 tons of palm oil annually and employ 2,500 local employees. Daesang Holdings is the first Korean food maker to operate a palm tree farm and operate a palm oil plant to produce palm oil in Indonesia, joining Samsung C&T and LG Trading, which so far have been operating palm tree farms in the S.E. Asian nation. Palm oil is used in margarine, ice cream, and coffee cream with Malaysia and Indonesia producing 85 percent of palm oil in the world. China and India are the top two consumers of palm oil in the world.

President Myung Hyung-sub is a Daesang man through and through as he spent his entire career stretching over 30 years with Daesang, which he joined following his graduation from Korea University in 1982.

Daesang’s curry product, named “Curry Queen.” (Photos: Daesang)

The CEO could be the only man in the foodmaker’s history to get the top job of the company after starting from as a mere clerk. His performance as the CEO since he got the top job two years ago has been excellent, on the level of A+, according to sources close to the company, although he inherited a healthy legacy from his predecessor, former CEO Park Seong-chil, who headed the food maker for four years and set many records before he left for the Dongwon Group where he is now president of Dongwon F&B.

During 2012, his first year as CEO, Daesang did very well with sales coming to 2.45 trillion won, up 13 percent YoY, and operating profit of 129.7 billion won, up 19 percent YoY.  Operating profit in 2013 rose more than 20 percent to around 150 billion won, which looks amazing as it came while rival foodmakers in Korea just had a so-so year in all areas of their operations.

Myung stressed cuts in expenses to boost profits and other measures to make the company’s operations more effective. Last year, the inventory level of the company’s finished products stood at 230.4 billion won, down 16.5 percent from 276.2 billion won in 2012. The ratio of costs fell to 71.7 percent in 2013 from 72.4 percent in 2012.

The CEO launched an internal campaign called “Three Ones” to remove ineffective matters in office procedures, meaning first a day before, an hour, and a day after. It means the agenda and schedule for a meeting should be finished a day before the meeting, a meeting should be completed in an hour, and a day after the meeting the core results of the meeting should be known to everyone in the company. The campaign is intended to boost productivity in the company by doing everything quickly and correctly. While tightening the belt inside the company, externally, they should seek ways to find new growth engines and diversify the business.

The company has expanded its business lines to include the production of pastes, processed foods, and distribution of food products, away from the condiments that used to be the main line of business for the company.

The “cup rice in soup” introduced to the market last year posted 10 billion won in sales with the new product attracting many people since it can be eaten like ramen in a cup. The company also introduced a dried beef called “sabjak” as a side dish to eat between meals, the market of which is considered as much as 600 billion won around the country.

The company has also been successfully exploring overseas markets for its products. Myung set the company’s export target at 5 trillion won in 2016, the 60th anniversary year of the company, and has set out to prepare for the targeted sales overseas.

He first signed an agreement to supply 50,000 tons of starch syrup annually to Nestle in the Philippines. Myung also signed agreements with Dr. Orker of Germany and Access of Japan to build bridgeheads to export the company’s products to those countries in the near future.

Daesang’s operations have improved continuously for the past five or six years, building a solid operational foundation with a solid profit base for all its products, according to food industry sources.