Bibigo Mandu (Dumpling) products released by CJ Cheiljedang.

(from left) Bibigo home meal replacement products for roasted mackerel, grilled halibut, and roasted Spanish mackerel, released by CJ Cheiljedang. (Photos: CJ Cheiljedang)

CJ Cheiljedang President Kang Shin-ho made good on his promise with his company’s shareholders to achieve growth amid the sagging global economy caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

CJ Cheiljedang, the nation’s leading food maker, achieved a steady business performance in the first quarter of this year.

Amid the global crisis, CJ Cheiljedang enjoyed booming demand in home meal replacements as the novel coronavirus forced people around the world to stay at home.

Sales of processed foods in the global market also shot up. CJ Cheiljedang is evaluated to have the best business performance among subsidiaries of CJ Group during the pandemic period.

CJ Cheiljedang posted 5.830.9 trillion won in sales in 2020 Q1, a 16.2 percent surge over a year ago, and 275.9 billion won in operating profit, a 54.1 percent jump, on a consolidated basis.

The food maker’s steady business performance during the first quarter of the year, when the COVID-19 hit the world, has signaled future growth potential.

CJ Cheiljedang, taking advantage of a booming demand for HMRs, plans to diversify product portfolio to meet customers’ needs.

With the excluding of CJ Logistics’ business performance, CJ Cheiljedang saw sales surging 23.9 percent to 3.481.7 trillion won and operating profit jumping 53.3 percent to 220.1 billion won.

The food maker saw the portion of global sales standing at about 60 percent, some 10 percentage points over 2019 Q1. The food business saw sales surge 31.4 percent to 2.260.6 trillion won.

Global processed food sales jumped 126 percent to 1.038.6 trillion won to lead the steady business performance. The figure included 742.6 billion won in sales from Schwan’s Co. acquired by CJ Cheijedang.

In South Korea, major HMRs like “Bibigo Jook (Potridge) and “Bibigo Gukmulyori” (Bibigo Soup) saw sales shoot up to offset a decline in sales in seasoning and soy paste products, which depend heavily on B2B transactions.

The food maker saw operating profit rising 15.3 percent to 116.3 billion won on the back of the improving of the business efficiency and rising sales of Schwan’s Co.

The bio business, specializing in amino acids for feeding and food seasoning substances, saw sales surge 15 percent to 677.7 billion won.

The division saw a rising standing at the tryptophan market thanks to higher production capacity, and value-added products such as arginine and cysteine led sales growth.

Tryptophan is an α-amino acid that is used in the biosynthesis of proteins. The division saw operating profit amount to 51.1 billion won in Q1, similar to a year ago, on the back of restricting product portfolio with a focus on high-profit items and retrenching efforts.

CJ Fee & Care, specializing in the feed & livestock business, saw sales rise 8.5 percent to 543.4 billion won. Operating profit was 52.7 billion won, a departure from previous losses.

CJ Cheiljedang came up with advance steps to cope with a crisis through efforts to ramp up profitability and improve fundamentals like financial structure.

The food maker tried to minimize the economic fallout, caused by the pandemic during the first quarter of the year by maintaining net borrowings to the levels at the end of last year.

CJ Cheiljedang’s efforts to focus on “innovative growth” through the strengthening of profitability have yielded a steady business performance despite the global crisis, the food maker said.

CJ Cheiljedang plans to maintain future growth by concentrating its capabilities to key items and businesses and strategic R&D investments and securing competitiveness, it added.