CJ Group Chairman Lee Jay-hyun (Photo: CJ Group)

CJ Jeiljedang will formally make inroads into the frozen food market in Russia as the company now has taken over Ravioli, a frozen food company in Russia, for 30 billion won, the company announced on June 1. The company is on its way to taking a 90 percent stake in Selecta, a Brazilian soy bean protein concentrate maker, for 360 billion won. The company is the world’s largest soy bean protein concentrate maker with sales outlets totaling 37 around the world with a turnover of 400 billion won last year and an operating profit of 55 billion won. CJ changed the name of the Russian company to CJ Ravioli Russia, which has been located in St. Petersburg since 1994 when it was set up first.

The Russian frozen food producer used to make Pemeni, a Russian dumpling. Its market share around St. Petersburg ranked third-largest, with an annual turnover of 45 billion won. CJ Jeiljedang has a plan to dominate the largest frozen food market in Russia by 2020 now that it has taken over Ravioli by setting aside 13 billion won for investments in additional facilities and other areas. The measures will make its operation competitive by expanding its outlets in other cities in Russia.

 The company plans to produce its Wang Mando (dumpling) in Russia, too, along with dumplings produced by Ravioli. The company also plans to produce and market frozen food for Russian homes so that its annual turnover in 2020 would amount to 200 billion own, topping the frozen dumping market in Russia, becoming the top frozen food firm in Russia by further diversifying its business lines.

Russia’s annual frozen food market is about 4 trillion won, including 1.5 trillion won for dumplings, which has been growing around 13 percent annually.

CJ Jeiljedang plans to expand the market for its food products all over Russia in the next few years and secure infrastructure, manpower and core technologies.

The company has been building an integrated food production base in Jincheon, North Chungcheong Province, a top-level food production facility armed with high technology. The base, when completed next October, will turn-out 120,000 tons of processed foods worth 500 billion won annually, equipped with digitally controlled ICTs. They will include mixed rice with vegetables, mixed rice in cups, processed meats and refrigerated processed foods, among others.

Vice President Kang Shin-ho in charge of the Food Business Dep’t, said we will provide support to CJ Jeiljedang’s business in Russia with the technology and manufacturing capacity honed domestically in Korea and following CJ’s successes in the U.S. and China. “We will surely be a major frozen food maker in Russia, too, focusing on the high-growth dumplings and HMR businesses,” he said. “In the long-term, Russia will be the base of our operations in Europe and former CIS countries.” The company invested a total of 200 billion won in the past three years to make the Bibigo Dumpling business a great success in not only in Korea, but also in the U.S. and China.

Bibigo dumpling sales, both at home and overseas, came to around 330 billion won last year, the biggest in the dumping sales posted in Korea and the United States. 

The company aim to see the global sales of Bibigo Dumplings log some 1 trillion won soon as the company kicks off its global operation earnestly in Russia. 

CJ Jeiljedang has been busy setting up global production bases. Ravioli, in Russia, will cover Europe; and Southeast Asia will be covered by a Vietnamese frozen food maker. Altogether, there are three dumpling plants in the United States. A dumpling plant in Gwangzou, China, is to be expanded this year. CJ Jeiljedang plans to build a new plant in Liaocheng, Shandong, China as a dumpling production Center. A project to expand the existing plant in Guangzhoua three-fold is under way. The company plans to set up a third production center in New Jersey, following plants in Fullerton, California and Brooklyn, New York, to become the No. 1 dumpling maker in the world. Globally, the market for dumplings is valued at around 5.7 trillion won, growing around 3 percent per year, and is projected to expanded to 6.7 trillion won in 2020. CJ Jeiljedang is ranked 5th in terms of market share after Wanchai Perry, Samjeon, and Snaen, the three Chinese firms and Ajinomoto of Japan.

Director Kang Ki-moon of the CJ Jeiljedasng R&D Center said they will have to make or break with the taste and technology segregated from others, especially Chinese and Japanese makers. In its public filing, CJ Jeiljedang posted 8.9413 trillion won in sales last year, up 3.6 percent over the previous year. The company saw its operating profit rise 6.5 percent to 624.5 billion won. The mainstay food business led the way. The business division logged 4.6125 trillion won in sales, an 11.1 percent surge over 2015. Rice-processed products and the frozen food segment saw sales jump 38 percent and 24 percent, respectively.