The integrated entity that unites the food business capabilities of Korea and Japan under one roof will be based in the center of the Asian market. Lotte Group announced that it will establish a joint venture in Singapore in early July, jointly invested in by the Korean entity Lotte Wellfood and Japan’s Lotte Confectionery. Both sides have already obtained approval from their respective boards of directors, the highest decision-making bodies, and have completed all administrative procedures by passing monopoly and business combination regulatory reviews in the countries where they operate.

This move is analyzed as a concrete outcome, in the core food and beverage business segment, of Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin’s “One Lotte Korea-Japan” initiative, which he has consistently pursued. Chairman Shin has personally led regular strategic exchange meetings of food affiliate management from both countries, instructing the two companies to share their infrastructure and strengthen their dominance in overseas markets. This reflects the assessment that pioneering overseas markets is essential to overcome the limitations of the East Asian domestic market, where growth has entered a stagnant phase both in Korea and abroad.

In practice, the two companies have already strengthened cooperative frameworks in various areas, from joint procurement of raw materials to marketing collaboration and mutual cross-supply of products. This organic cooperation is being demonstrated in tangible performance indicators. Lotte Wellfood’s global sales last year reached KRW 1.2047 trillion, up 14.4% from the previous year. Japan’s Lotte Confectionery likewise recorded overseas sales of about KRW 900 billion in Vietnam and Indonesia, key hubs in Southeast Asia. In particular, performance has been notable for “Pepero,” the core single brand that both countries are promoting on a company-wide basis. As a result of diversifying distribution channels and conducting joint marketing, Pepero’s overseas sales growth rate reached 24% last year and then jumped to 33% in the first quarter of 2026, continuing an upward trajectory.

The new Singapore entity will function as a control tower to elevate the accumulated cooperation between the two companies to a higher level. Business models, financial structures, and decision-making processes in the Asian region, which were previously managed separately by country or by legal entity, will be absorbed and integrated under a single system. The strategy is to organically link plant operations, product sales, and logistics networks to reduce costs and accelerate business deployment. To support the stable launch of the joint venture and align its business strategy, Shin Yu-yeol, Head of Future Growth Office at Lotte Corporation, will serve as chairman of the board. Shin plans to maximize the synergies generated by the integration of the two countries’ food businesses and to oversee overall overseas market expansion initiatives.

Going forward, the integrated entity will focus on continuously discovering major global brands, while initiating efficiency measures to eliminate redundancies across the entire value chain, from raw material purchasing to final consumer goods sales. It plans to operate a new product development process involving joint participation by researchers from both countries and to systematically target emerging markets with relatively high entry barriers or growing purchasing power.

The integration of the two national entities appears to be extending beyond the food industry into the group’s broader future businesses. Last autumn, the domestic hotel division and Lotte Holdings Japan joined forces to launch “Lotte Hotels Japan” to penetrate the Japanese local lodging market. In addition, cross-border cooperation is underway in a wide range of areas, including capital-raising activities in the biopharmaceutical contract development and manufacturing segment and joint projects by venture capital firms for nurturing start-ups.

A Lotte Group representative stated that the establishment of the Singapore entity will serve as an opportunity to consolidate food business capabilities that had been fragmented between the two countries. By combining their respective competitive assets, the group aims to develop hit products that succeed on the global stage and to gradually expand into untapped areas, thereby solidifying its position in the global market.

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