A Lotte Mart outlet in Ho Chi Minh City. (Photo: Yonhap) Hanoi (VNA) – TheRepublic of Korea's distribution and food processing companies are shifting toVietnam from China amid tougher business conditions and strained bilateralrelations in the world's most populous market, the RoK’s Yonhap news agencyreported.
RoK retail giant Lotte Grouphas been negotiating the sale of its hypermarket chain in China after itsuffered great losses and did not see any sign of recovery.
Most of its 99 Lotte Martdiscount stores in China have suspended operations for more than one year andLotte Group saw about 1.2 trillion won (1.1 billion USD) in lost sales.
Lotte said it aims to raisethe number of Lotte Mart outlets in Vietnam to 87 by the end of 2020 from thecurrent 13. Present in Vietnam in 2008, Lotte Mart's sales in the country roseto 266 billion won last year from 62 billion won in 2011.
Lotte Group has beenoperating department stores, hotels and cinemas in Vietnam since 1998. It isalso building "Eco Smart City", to be completed by 2021, on about100,000 sq.m of land in Ho Chi Minh City with an investment of over 2 trillionwon.
The city will be equippedwith a department store, a shopping mall, a hotel and office and residentialbuildings. Lotte also plans to invest 330 billion won in the development of"Lotte Hanoi" on 73,000 sq.m by 2020, featuring a department store, ashopping mall and cinemas.
EMart, the RoK's biggestdiscount store chain and an affiliate of Shinsegae Group, said it will considerbuilding several more outlets in Ho Chi Minh City. Sales at EMart's mall in HoChi Minh City, which opened in December 2015, rose to 52 billion won in 2017from 41.9 billion won in 2016. EMart completed the sale of scores of outlets inChina last year.
CJ Group, a Korean food andentertainment conglomerate, has been actively expanding its business in Vietnamin recent years, hoping Vietnam could serve as a springboard for its expandedpresence in Southeast Asia.
CJ Cheiljedang Corp., a Koreanleading food manufacturer, has bought several food processing firms in Vietnam,hoping to achieve more than 700 billion won of sales by 2020. It has invested70 billion won in the construction of a food processing factory in Ho Chi MinhCity.
CJ Foodville, the restaurantarm of food and entertainment conglomerate CJ, currently operates 36 Tous LesJours bakery outlets in Vietnam.
CJ Freshway, a fooddistribution and catering affiliate of CJ Group, meanwhile, posted sales of 49billion won in Vietnam in 2017, up from 1.8 billion won in 2012 when thecompany began business in the country.-VNA
VNA
