Pulmuone Opens a Smart Kimchi Plant to Kickstart Global Exports

◦ Pulmuone aims to expand business in global food markets with its completion of smart kimchi export plant

◦ Pulmuone, which owns America’s #1 tofu brand ‘Nasoya,’ set to enter global kimchi markets

◦ Premium kimchi produced in the plant to be available in U.S.Walmarts and Chinese Sam’s Club and Freshippo(Hema) stores

SEOUL – May 26^th, 2019 – Pulmuone, a global fresh food company headquartered in Seoul, Republic of Korea opened a smart kimchi manufacturing plant on May 24th to boost its global exports of the fermented traditional Korean side dish.

▲ Exterior view of Pulmuone's Global Kimchi Plant

The Global Kimchi Plant, a 30,000-square-meter facility located in Iksan, Korea, is expected to accommodate the growing demand for premium kimchi in the global markets with its annual capacity of 10,000 tons of kimchi variations including vegan napa cabbage kimchi, vegan napa cabbage white kimchi, vegan cubed radish kimchi, etc. It is the newest kimchi export plant in the country which sold 28,000 tons of the fermented vegetable product in 2018.

The new kimchi plant is equipped with modern technologies for its automated ingredient storage, processing, packaging and shipping. The entire manufacturing process is monitored by IP (Internet Protocol) cameras and IoT (Internet of Things) sensors to maintain temperature, humidity and salt concentrations at a constant level, and RFID (Radio-Frequency Identification) technology is applied for real-time storage management to ensure the optimized fermentation of each of the products with different destinations.

With its completion of the export plant, Pulmuone is set to respond to the anticipated increasing demand for fresh kimchi in global food markets. In its approach to the U.S. kimchi market, Pulmuone, which acquired Vitasoy USA’s tofu brand Nasoya in 2016, plans to leverage its strong position in the U.S. tofu market where it held 73.8 percent market share as of Dec 2018. The company plans to make its products available in mainstream grocery retailers to meet customers’ surging demand for premium kimchi.

“As a company of expertise in global food markets and an owner of U.S. no.1 tofu brand Nasoya, we are proud to sell our kimchi products on U.S.’s largest grocery retailer Walmart,” said Pulmuone’s General CEO Lee Hyo-yul at the opening ceremony. “Premium Kimchi produced in the new plant are now also available in Alibaba’s Freshippo stores and Walmart-owned Sam’s Clubs in China,” Mr. Lee added.

Pulmuone has provided major funding for the establishment and operation of the Museum Kimchikan, the nation’s first kimchi museum, since it opened in 1987. The museum has contributed to introducing tourists and visitors from around the world to kimchi, the Korean staple dish, and Kimjang, a culture of making and sharing kimchi which was recognized by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2013. The museum was also named one of the world’s 12 best food museums by Elle Decor, a U.S. global magazine, in 2017.