Korea’s confectionery Orion earns $43 mln from Vietnam in Jan-Sept

South Korean confectionery firm Orion earned an operating profit of VND1,083 billion ($42.6 million) in Vietnam in the first nine months of this year, up 14.8% year-on-year, according to the firm’s financial statements.

In the period, Orion’s sales revenue in Vietnam grew 7.9% year-on-year to VND6,253 billion ($245.7 million).

Regarding the selling, general and administrative (SG&A) expenses, salaries were equivalent to 9.4% of the sales revenue - the biggest portion, or VND587 billion, up 4.7% year-on-year.

While the operating profit went up, its post-tax profit went down 1.2% year-on-year to VND990 billion ($38.9 million).

In Vietnam, pies made up the biggest portion of Orion’s revenue in the period with VND2,303 billion ($90.5 million), or 40.8% of the total. Other major contributors included snacks with VND2,229 billion, or 39.5%; and biscuits with VND590 billion, 10.4%. Other products were jelly-candy, dairy-moon pie, and gift sets.

Orion also noted that it earned VND5,648 billion ($221.9 million) from the Vietnamese market, up 6.9% year-on-year; and VND605 billion from exporting goods, mainly to Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Mongolia, up 19.2%.

As a result, in terms of revenue, Vietnam was Orion’s third biggest market with 15% of the total. The biggest two were South Korea with 36% and China with 41%.

Orion entered Vietnam in 1997 with a rep office in Ho Chi Minh City. It opened a factory in the southern province of Binh Duong in 2016 and another one in the northern province of Bac Ninh three years later.