How Orion leads Vietnam’s confectionary industry

The Vietnam subsidiary of South Korea’s confectionary maker Orion Corp was the biggest manufacturer in Vietnam in 2022 when its ChocoPie products accounted for 66% of the pie market, according to a Nielsen survey.

It has recorded a big gap with other Vietnamese competitors. Bibica and Hai Ha, two major confectionary companies, posted revenues of VND1.6 trillion ($68.23 million) and VND1.5 trillion respectively last year.

Orion Food Vina was established in 2005, and its sales exceeded $10 million for the first time in 2011.

It ranked 139th among the 1,000 biggest tax payers in Vietnam in 2021.

One of the reasons that the company has been able to lead the Vietnam market is its strategy of focusing on local demand, said Park Se Yeol, CEO of Orion Food Vina.

The company started out making just the ChocoPie but later diversified its products to include cookies, custard and candy.

Among its 3,600 employees, only 21 are South Korean. All key positions in its departments are held by Vietnamese.

"Last year for the first time we had three senior directors who were all locals," Park said. "We will nurture them so they can be the strategic decision makers for Orion in the future."

He said that another reason for the company’s competitiveness is that its prices have remained unchanged since 2018, even though last year alone ingredient costs surged by 70%.

Orion Food Vina plans to spend VND1.4 trillion building a new production line. It will also build a new plant in addition to its two plants in the southern province of Binh Duong and the northern province of Bac Ninh.

The company eyes growth of 10%-15% annually between 2022 and 2025.

Vietnam’s confectionary market is forecast to grow on average 7% annually between 2020 and 2025, when it will reach VND66 trillion.

On average a Vietnamese person consumes two kilograms of confectionary products a year, lower than the global average of three kilograms.