South Korea’s leading snack maker Lotte Confectionery on Thursday said it will start operations in Africa from next week, becoming the first homegrown food company to enter the 12 trillion won ($10.2 billion) African market.

Lotte Confectionery has set up its first office in Nairobi, Kenya and will officially begin operations starting from next Monday. The new office was established by Lotte India Corp., the company said.


“Lotte Confectionery’s newly formed Kenya office marks a milestone in setting up a base camp for the company’s continued expansion across Africa,” Lotte Confectionery said in a statement.

The Korean snack maker first began exporting its products to Africa from 2000, including its Choco Pie and Spout Gum, which saw sales in Africa from January to May increase tenfold compared to the firm’s total sales in the region in 2015, it said.

Lotte Confectionery said it will start exporting its flagship chocolate-covered stick crackers Pepero to the region from September to East Africa’s biggest supermarket chain Nakumatt.

The company plans to eventually turn its Kenya office into an independent company in the near future and begin exporting Lotte’s snacks to other African countries including Ethiopia, Tanzania and Rwanda.

By Sohn Ji-young (jys@heraldcorp.com)