Wei Chuan aims to dominate China

Wei Chuan Foods Corp (味全食品) is planning to double its annual sales to NT$20 billion over the next five years to become the No. 1 food maker in the Greater China market, a company executive said yesterday.

Starting out as a monosodium glutamate maker in 1953, the company reported around NT$10 billion in sales last year.

"Our resources in Taiwan and China will help Wei Chuan to dominate the [Greater China] market," said chairman Wei Ying-chung (魏應充).

Instant success

Wei is also a board member of Ting Hsin International Group (頂新集團), the top instant-noodle producer in China, known for its Master Kang (康師傅) brand. Ting Hsin acquired more than 50 percent of Wei Chuan shares in 1998 when the food company was facing a financial crisis.

In a bid to fulfill the company's ambition, a cross-strait collaboration is essential, Wei said, adding that the plan is to make Taiwan the test market for new products and then sell the items with the best potential in China.

For example, Ting Hsin recently introduced Wei Chuan's bottled juice and yogurt to China.

It began importing the China-made Master Kang noodles to Taiwan last December.

Wei said the noodles had secured a 21.6 percent share of the local market as of last month.

"We hope to increase that number to 35 percent within the next five years," he said.

Wei made the remarks at the company's 50th anniversary ceremony in Taipei yesterday.

He stressed that the company is committed to the retail industry and upgrading its ability to produce chilled foods.

"The retail industry is a desirable sector that we are looking at," Wei said.

Involvement in distribution is also a must for Wei Chuan, as Master Kang instant noodles and Wei Chuan brand bottled juices are excluded from rival President Chain Store Corp's (統一超商) 3,000 7-Eleven stores in this country, Wei said.

Interference

"Retailers are not supposed to bar the sale of products by rival food makers," he said.

In China, Ting Hsin has joined forces with Japanese parent company FamilyMart Co and Itochu Corp to set up six convenience stores in Shanghai.

It is now in talks with Taiwan FamilyMart Co (全家便利), the nation's second-largest convenience store chain with some 1,300 stores.

"We are very interested in linking up with FamilyMart via share acquisition or strategic alliance," Wei said.

Wei-Chuan is already deeply involved in Taiwan's retail industry, as it has 68 supermarkets around the country under the names of Sungching (松青超市) and Marukyu (丸久超市).

In order to upgrade its food-production ability and to directly supply food to its supermarkets, Wei Chuan invested NT$190 million in the middle of this year to set up a factory to make bread and chilled foods.