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Photo = Lotte Group |
[Alpha Biz= Kim Jisun] Lotte Wellfood, a food subsidiary of Lotte Group, has officially opened a new ice cream manufacturing plant in Pune, India, aiming to expand its presence in the country with a population of 1.4 billion. The plant will produce popular frozen treats such as Pig Bar and Jaws Bar.
According to Lotte Group on Sunday, Lotte Wellfood held an inauguration ceremony for the ‘Havmor Pune Plant’ on February 6 (local time) in Pune, located in western-central India.
This marks the first production facility expansion since Lotte Wellfood acquired Havmor in December 2017. The new factory spans 60,000 square meters—equivalent to the size of eight football fields—and is six times larger than the existing Gujarat plant. The facility is equipped with automated systems and advanced Korean production technology to enhance efficiency.
With the new plant, Lotte Wellfood expects to ensure a stable supply of ice cream products during peak seasons, projecting an increase of over 15% in its ice cream sales in India this year compared to 2023.
Currently operating nine production lines, the Pune plant will begin rolling out
Lotte Crunch Bar, Jaws Bar, and Watermelon Bar sequentially within the year for the Indian market. Lotte Wellfood also plans to expand the number of production lines to 16 by 2028.
Lotte Group first entered the Indian market in 2004 through Lotte Wellfood and now operates two subsidiaries: Lotte India, which focuses on confectionery, and Havmor, which specializes in frozen desserts. As of 2023, Lotte Wellfood’s sales in India reached KRW 270 billion (approximately USD 200 million).
Leveraging the production capacity of the Pune plant, Lotte Wellfood aims to strengthen its market dominance in western India while using the facility as a strategic base for expanding into southern India. In the first half of this year, the company plans to merge Lotte India and Havmor into a single entity, optimizing its product portfolio and logistics operations to maximize efficiency.
AlphaBIZ Kim Jisun(stockmk2020@alphabiz.co.kr)
