After Lotte Supermarkets left China in recent years, Korean media reported that the Lotte Group will close its China headquarters in Shanghai and shift its focus to Southeast Asia.
The reports quoted sources from inside the Lotte Group that the company made the decision to disband its China headquarters late last year and expects to complete the process before June. Lotte will continue to operate its Department Store in Chengdu city.
Lotte Group is a South Korean multinational conglomerate corporation. It entered the Chinese market in 1994 and established its China headquarters in Shanghai in 2006. As of 2017, there were more than 100 Lotte Mart supermarkets across the country, with 70 percent of the group’s total sales revenue coming from China. In the same year, Lotte Group agreed to provide land to the U.S. military for the Terminal High Altitude Defense (THAAD) anti-missile system, triggering protests in China. Beginning in 2018, Lotte gradually withdrew its Lotte Mart, department stores, beverages and other businesses from the Chinese market.
Lotte Group is expanding into Southeast Asian markets. Recently, Lotte opened additional Lotte Mart supermarkets in Vietnam. The first trip that the new head of Lotte Supermarket made after taking office was to Indonesia.
Source: Radio Free Asia, March 23, 2022
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