Orion, a South Korean confectionery company known for its chocolate-covered pies, named “Choco Pie,” saw its sales in the Chinese market exceed 1 trillion won in 2012.
Orion made the landmark achievement almost 20 years after it opened an office in Beijing, its first in China.
The company said on Jan. 9 that its sales in China surpassed 1 trillion won, a considerable increase from 703.2 billion won in 2011. It means that every Chinese ate four Choco Pies last year, a company official said. China’s population is estimated at 1.3 billion.
As a result, Orion has become the first South Korean confectionery company to achieve annual sales of more than 1 trillion won in China.
For the past five years, Orion’s sales in the Chinese market have grown by an average of 48 percent, the group said. The figure compares with a 20 percent sales growth for the Chinese confectionery industry in 2012.
Several other products made by Orion, such as Xylitol gum, Swing Chip and Panda Pie, have also gained popularity at home and abroad. Currently, Orion is the No. 2 foreign confectionery brand in China.
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
Copyright ⓒ Aju Press All rights reserved.