INDIA – Lotte Confectionery, a South Korean food conglomerate that produces nuts, gums, candies, and ice cream among other products, has announced plans to invest RS 450 crone (US$55.3 million) in its Indian facility, Havmor Ice Cream, over the next five years.

Lotte initially acquired Havmor Ice Cream for RS1000 crore (US$122.9 million) in 2017 which marked Lotte’s entry into the Indian ice cream market. It now has two manufacturing units in Ahmedabad and Faridabad.

Some of the investment cash will fund the construction of a 60,000-square-meter plant for Havmor Ice Cream in the city of Pune in Maharashtra state and the rest of it will be used to expand the capacity of the existing unit in Faridabad, according to a South Korean news service, Yonhap News Agency.

 The investment will be funded internally and the new facility’s operations will use the design and manufacturing technology from Lotte according to Komal Anand, the managing director of Havmor Ice Cream.

The new facility will be fully operational by the end of 2024 making it the third factory of Lotte Confectionery in India. It is also anticipated to employ about 1000 people as its operations will lead to a significant increase in production capacity to meet the demand.

Commenting on the investment, the Chief Globalization Officer of Lotte Korea, Mr Choi said “India is a very important market for Lotte, and we are excited to announce our first-ever ice cream facility built with Korean expertise and engineering.”

Presently, Havmor Ice Cream Operates 216 retail stores in India, supplying the Lotte Confectionery ice cream brands Snow Ice and World Cone. The company plans to introduce more products from its global portfolio in the coming year.

World cone was introduced in 2017 and its reception into the market exceeded the company’s expectations. It is now one of India’s fast-growing ice cream brands with a presence in 20 states.

The per capita consumption of ice cream in India is lower than in the rest of the Asian countries and therefore Lotte sees India as a strategic market with room for growth and expansion of its footprint.

The new plant will be instrumental and strengthening and growing the brand’s reach in India.

Lotte Confectionery also has factories operating in China, Singapore, Myanmar and Pakistan. Some of their facilities are also located in Belgium and Russia.

For the fiscal year of 2021, Lotte reported net sales of KRW2.2 trillion (US$1.7 billion) and an operating profit of KRW108.4 billion (US$87.3M).

For all the latest food industry news from Africa and the World, subscribe to our NEWSLETTER, follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn, like us on Facebook and subscribe to our YouTube channel.