“The merger will serve as a springboard for our One India initiative, bringing our confectionery and ice cream businesses together in a market of 1.4 billion people,” an official from Lotte Wellfood said after the company announced the completion of the consolidation last week.
The unified management in India is expected to deepen the Korean confectionery giant’s penetration in the world’s most populous country, where it has set a target of reaching 1 trillion won ($731.3 million) in sales by 2032.
India has emerged as one of Lotte’s key markets, with Pepero, its thin cookie stick coated in chocolate, becoming one of the country’s best-selling snacks, alongside Choco Pie.
Its latest launch, Lotte Krunch, promoted as India’s first four-layered ice cream bar, also sold over 1 million within three months of its launch earlier this year, setting the stage for a Korean ice cream boom following its snack success in the country.
“We will achieve a 15% sales growth with the opening of our new ice cream factory in Pune and another plant to produce Pepero later,” said an official from Lotte India.
Lotte Wellfood booth at the 2025 Fancy Food Show (Courtesy of Lotte Wellfood) The company earned 80.2 billion won in sales in India in the first quarter ended March 2025, up 24% from the same period last year.
The new ice cream factory in Pune, in western India, which cost 70 billion won to build, began operations in February, and the Krunch is one of the ice creams produced from the factory.
BEYOND NORTHERN AND WESTERN INDIA
Lotte Wellfood entered the Indian market in 2004, a first for a Korean confectionery company, after acquiring India’s homegrown Parrys Confectionery. It later changed the Indian company’s name to Lotte India.
In 2017, it took over Indian ice cream maker Havmor.
Lotte India has focused on Chennai, the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India, and Haryana, a northern Indian state surrounding New Delhi.
Headquartered in Ahmedabad, the largest city in the state of Gujarat, Havmor has focused on western India.
Lotte Wellfood ice cream products (Courtesy of Lotte Wellfood) With the two entities under one roof, Lotte is set to expand its distribution network into the country’s western part beyond its traditional strongholds in southern and northern India.
KOREAN ICE CREAM EXPORTS HIT RECORD HIGH
Korean ice cream has gained popularity not only in India but also in other parts of the world.
The country’s ice cream exports hit a record high of $65.5 million in the first half of this year, up 23.1% from a year ago, according to data released by Korea’s Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.
Korean ice cream sales to overseas markets for the first-half period grew from $38.5 million in 2021 to $44.7 million in 2022 and $55.3 million in 2023. After briefly dipping to $53.2 million in 2023, it rebounded to over $60 million this year.
The largest market was the US, accounting for 38%, or $24.9 million, followed by the Philippines with $5.6 million and China with $5.4 million.
The agricultural ministry forecast Korean ice cream exports will surpass $100 million in 2025 for the first time, driven by surging demand for Korean frozen treats.
Last year, the county shipped $91.5 million worth of ice cream overseas.
