CJ CheilJedang Corp., South Korea’s largest food company, is expanding its Japanese footprint with a 100 billion won ($72 million) investment in a new frozen dumpling plant in Chiba Prefecture.
Set to begin production in September, the 42,000-square-meter facility in Kisarazu City’s Kazusa Academia Park will be the company’s fifth manufacturing plant in Japan, following its 2019 acquisition of Japanese dumpling maker Gyoza Keikaku.
The expansion comes as CJ CheilJedang pursues an aggressive global growth strategy, having announced plans last November to invest $571 million in new food production facilities across Europe and the United States, including plants in Hungary and South Dakota.
The new Japanese plant will primarily produce Bibigo brand dumplings, targeting Japan’s frozen dumpling market estimated at 1.1 trillion won ($794 million) annually. The company noted a resurging Korean cultural wave in Japan has boosted demand for Korean food products.
CJ CheilJedang already sells frozen dumplings, kimbap (Korean seaweed rice rolls), and various sauce products through major Japanese retailers including AEON, Costco, and online platforms Amazon and Rakuten. Its Bibigo Kimbap, launched in Japan in 2023, sold approximately 2.5 million units last year.
The company’s overseas food sales have increased 77% over five years, reaching 5.58 trillion won ($4.03 billion) in 2024 and now accounting for nearly half of its total food revenue.
