Korea Ginseng Corp. said Monday it will establish 11 new branches outside Korea this year as it aims to more than double its overseas sales.

The firm is well-known for its 6-year-old red ginseng brand Cheong Kwan Jang, which has been increasing in popularity overseas, particularly in China, over the past few years.

The firm said it will establish new branches in China, Japan, North America, Singapore and Vietnam to develop direct distribution channels instead of depending on importers. 

It currently operates five offshore branches in cities including Beijing, Tokyo and Los Angeles.

KGC is a wholly owned subsidiary of KT&G, the country’s largest tobacco firm.
The company said it will step up marketing abroad to raise sales from its overseas business from $73 million last year to $150 million this year.

“Our active pioneering of markets has already been showing good results in China and Taiwan. We aim to boost our overseas sales to around $500 million by 2015,” KGC said.

Additional branches will be established in Chongqing and Fuzhou, China, Osaka, Fukuoka, and Hokkaido, Japan, and New York and Toronto, according to KGC. It will also establish headquarters in Singapore and Vietnam, the firm said.

KGC will also increase the number of its overseas direct retail stores in China, Taiwan, Japan and North America by more than 29, or 40 percent, this year, it said.

The firm is expected to continue to grow at an average rate of 17 percent annually by tapping new foreign markets, Kyobo Securities analyst Jung Sung-hun said earlier.

By Koh Young-aah (youngaah@heraldcorp.com)