‘One Lotte’ strategy bolsters cross-border cooperation for global expansion

Lotte has laid the groundwork for its sustainable “One Lotte” strategy on collaboration between Korean and Japanese affiliates, with Chairman Shin Dong-bin calling for cooperation to grow global competitiveness.

The cooperation aims to foster future growth in food production as well as the bio, battery materials and hydrogen sectors. The Korean and Japanese companies are broadening business by cross-selling products, pursuing marketing partnerships and collaborating on raw material procurement.

In the food sector, Lotte Wellfood and Japan Lotte Confectionery launched a joint venture in Singapore that will oversee the Asian business of the two countries’ confectioners. Shin Yoo-yeol, the head of Lotte’s future growth office, will chair the board in charge of overseas business.

Lotte Wellfood’s recent efforts abroad have paid off, with overseas sales growing 14.4 percent from a year earlier to 1.22 trillion won ($840 million) to post operating profit of 900 billion won last year on the back of growth in key markets such as Vietnam and Indonesia. Since the introduction of the “One Lotte” strategy, sales of Pepero jumped 33 percent in the first quarter of this year.

The cooperation has extended beyond the food industry with the establishment of Lotte Hotels Japan in September of last year, while both countries mutually support startups through the “L-Camp Japan” accelerator program.

Lotte Biologics, meanwhile, received final approval to begin the construction of Plant 1 at its Songdo Bio campus in Incheon, coming roughly two years after breaking ground. The 120,000-liter (31,700-gallon) capacity plant, with eight bioreactors and an automated material control system and digital twin system, will focus on antibody production.

The Songdo site partners with the company’s Syracuse Bio Campus in the United States, with the Korean site managing commercial manufacturing and the New York facility in charge of clinic production.

On July 3, Chairman Shin visited the Songdo campus to encourage employees and inspect the facilities, emphasizing that the bio business is the core industry leading the company toward a big leap forward.

To that end, Lotte Biologics is set to complete good manufacturing practice certification for the production system six months ahead of schedule. The company also presented the results of research into SoluFlex Link, a body drug conjugate platform technology, at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2026 in San Diego in April.

BY LEE SO-YOUN [lee.soyoun1@joongang.co.kr]