Daesang

Daesang operates through two main pillars: a food business and a materials business, with food accounting for the large majority of revenue.

The food segment is centered on the comprehensive food brand Chungjungone, covering traditional fermented sauces such as Sunchang gochujang, Miwon seasonings, agricultural and marine food products, and frozen and convenience foods, while the kimchi brand Jongga sells kimchi and fresh foods such as tofu.

The materials segment consists of a starch and starch-syrup business with the largest domestic production capacity, plus a bio business producing MSG, nucleic acids, lysine, arginine and tryptophan.

Overseas, Indonesian and Vietnamese subsidiaries handle starch-syrup and food sales, while Netherlands-based Daesang Europe B.V. supplies Chungjungone and Jongga products along with amino acids such as lysine across Europe.

In the United States, the company expanded its local distribution network through the acquisition of food company Lucky Foods, and Germany-based Amino GmbH serves as a platform for higher value-added medical-grade materials.

Its meat distribution subsidiary Hyesung Provision partners with global packers including Cargill, JBS and NBP to supply chilled and frozen meat and processed meat products domestically.

The domestic lysine and starch-syrup markets are dominated by a small number of players—Daesang, CJ CheilJedang, Samyang Corp and Sajo CPK—giving a relatively stable competitive structure, though this oligopolistic position has recently drawn Korea Fair Trade Commission antitrust scrutiny.

At its March 2026 annual general meeting, Daesang added the acquisition, management, licensing and sale of intellectual property and other intangible assets to its business purposes, opening the door to brand- and patent-based new businesses.

Consolidated revenue rose steadily from KRW 4.0841 trillion in 2022 to KRW 4.1075 trillion in 2023, KRW 4.2551 trillion in 2024, and KRW 4.4013 trillion in 2025. Operating profit, however, edged down from KRW 176.94 billion in 2024 to KRW 169.28 billion in 2025, with the operating margin slipping from 4.2% to 3.8%.

The more striking shift was in net profit: owner net profit swung from a KRW 95.18 billion gain in 2024 to a KRW -304.25 billion loss in 2025.

On a quarterly basis, results through Q3 2025 were solid, with revenue of KRW 1.1454 trillion, operating profit of KRW 50.89 billion and owner net profit of KRW 22.17 billion, but in Q4 2025 revenue of KRW 1.0494 trillion and operating profit of KRW 20.31 billion were accompanied by an owner net loss of KRW -372.56 billion, indicating a very large non-operating item was recognized that quarter.

This drove owner equity down from KRW 1.4214 trillion in 2024 to KRW 1.0709 trillion in 2025, while the debt ratio rose from 142.5% to 217.2%.

Performance recovered in 2026, with Q1 revenue of KRW 1.1099 trillion, operating profit of KRW 57.01 billion and owner net profit of KRW 32.02 billion, followed by Q2 revenue of KRW 1.1658 trillion, operating profit of KRW 46.45 billion and owner net profit of KRW 18.53 billion, maintaining a return to profitability.

Operating cash flow was KRW 188.14 billion in 2025, similar to KRW 187.74 billion in 2024, but well below KRW 374.84 billion in 2023, while 2022 saw a cash outflow of KRW -90.93 billion, reflecting notable year-to-year volatility.

Korea's food and beverage industry continues moderate growth in categories such as kimchi, fermented sauces and convenience foods amid stabilizing raw material costs, with Daesang holding a stable share of domestic and overseas markets through its Jongga and Chungjungone brands.

According to Newsway, the food business, which accounts for about 75% of total revenue, generates stable earnings both domestically and overseas centered on the Jongga and Chungjungone brands.

In contrast, the materials segment is heavily affected by global oversupply, as lysine continues to see weak global selling prices driven by sustained low-priced supply from Chinese producers.

Although the European Union imposed anti-dumping duties of up to 58.2% on Chinese lysine, price recovery has been limited because the oversupply structure has not been resolved.

The domestic starch-syrup industry is dominated by a small group of players—Daesang, CJ CheilJedang, Samyang Corp and Sajo CPK—forming an oligopoly in which these four companies hold 95.7% of the starch market and 86.4% of the starch-syrup market domestically.

This oligopolistic structure has long served as a stable earnings base, but it is now being reshaped by Korea Fair Trade Commission antitrust investigations into industry practices.

Market participants point to rising feed-grade lysine demand from a recovering Chinese hog market and the possibility of tighter regulation on Chinese amino acid supply as potential price-recovery factors, suggesting the materials segment is at a juncture where it remains to be seen whether the cycle has bottomed.

Regarding second-half strategy, the company stated that "in the second half, we plan to expand our global food business based on the popularity of K-food and focus on strengthening the competitiveness of high-value-added businesses such as bio materials".

When reporting Q2 results, the company explained that "domestically, we improved the profitability of the food business through manufacturing cost improvements and management efficiency, and the global food business also grew through localized product development and expansion into new markets and hubs,