Daesang, Korea’s No. 1 kimchi maker, has established a beachhead in the United State to globalize kimchi.
Daesang has become the first Korean company to have built a kimchi plant in Los Angeles and begun mass production.
The company plans to expand its business turf to Europe, Canada and Oceania by utilizing the kimchi production center.
Daesang’s plant in an area of 10,000 sq. meters, located in City of Industry, which is near Los Angeles, is capable of producing 2,000 tons of kimchi annually.
The plant is outfitted with infrastructure for mass producing kimchi, such as production lines and raw material warehouses, costing 20 billion won.
It is first time Daesang has built a kimchi plant in Los Angeles beyond the Asian region in which the company set up plants in nine countries such as Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines and China.
The plant in Los Angeles produces not only the traditional version of kimchi, but also 10 kinds of kimchi, vegan kimchi, tailored to meet local culinary needs.
It procures major ingredients of kimchi, including cabbage and radish from local markets. Daesang has secured the supply chain of ingredients for making kimchi through market surveys and R&D activities.
Kimchi products from the plant in Los Angeles carry Daesang’s kimchi brand “Jongga.”
A new global version of “Jongga Kimchi Original,” released by Daesang. (Photos: Daesang)
Daesang expects that, with the establishment of the production center in the United States, the company will see the efficiency of the kimchi business improve dramatically, ranging from production to distribution, selling and marketing.
The reason is that Daesang will be able to manage sales according to demand forecasts, and will find it easy to secure the freshness of kimchi.
Daesang began to sell Jongga kimchi at Walmart outlets last year. The company plans to expand the selling of kimchi products to large-sized local markets such as Costco outlets on a continued basis.
Daesang aims to raises annual sales from the United States to 100 billion won.
The Kimchi plant in Los Angeles is designed to meet rising demand for kimchi in the United States.
The United States is the second largest kimchi importer following Japan. Korea exported kimchi products worth $28.25 million last year, a 22.5 percent year-on-year surge.
The figure represented a more than 10-fold jump over 2011 when kimchi products worth $2.79 million were exported to the United States.
Daesang exported Jongga kimchi products worth $16.17 million last year, a 37.8 percent year-on-year jump.
A Daesang official said in the past, more than 90 percent of kimchi consumption in the United States was consumed by Korean Americans, but the port of non-Koreans is on a sharp rise, an indication that kimchi has been established as a universal culinary item.
Kimchi’s global standing is on the rise. The number of kimchi importers increased from 61 in 2011 to 89 in 2021.
Figures, released by the Korea Customs Service, showed that Kimchi exports surged to $159.9 million last year, the most-ever, over twice more than $79 million in 2016.
Daesang has retained its status as the No. 1 kimchi exporter with a 40 percent portion. The company saw Jongga kimchi exports surge $67 million last year, the most-ever, a 131 percent jump over $29 million in 2016.
Daesang plans to expand kimchi exports by using the kimchi plant in the United States, and ramp up its presence in the conventional kimchi importer countries.
Jongga kimchi products have been exported to about 40 countries, including Americas, Europe, Oceania, China, Japan and Singapore.
