Samsung Welstory forms joint-venture for China food-service expansion
Samsung Welstory, which has been operating in China since 2012, joined China’s Yinlong Agriculture and Kokubu, Japan’s biggest food wholesaler, to form Shanghai Welstory Food with a 70% stake in the venture.
"We decided to join hands with our business partners to more effectively capitalise on China's rapidly-expanding food service and distribution markets," said Bong-yung, the Korean company’s chief executive.
"The partnership, armed with excellent business capabilities of its three companies, will grow into an organisation that will contribute to the advancement of the China's food distribution industry and will become a brand the Chinese will value.”
State-run Yinlong focuses on cultivating and processing a wide range of agricultural products, while Kokubu has established advanced infrastructure for logistics.
"Samsung Welstory can create a great deal of synergy by combining Kokubu's extensive logistics network and Yinlong Agriculture's high-quality crops and vegetables," added Kim.
"We will continue to expand our presence on the mainland and do the best we can to provide high-quality food service to Chinese consumers at affordable prices.”
Samsung Welstory, Korea’s biggest catering service business, said it expected China’s US$260bn food service market to grow at an annual rate of 9.2% until 2020.
The company, supplies 120,000 meals a day to 44 different sites in China, and 180,000 means in Vietnam, aims to earn KRW800bn (US$700bn) in sales from its overseas businesses by the end of this decade.
