How cocoa reliance splits fortunes of snack makers Lotte, Orion

South Korea’s confectionery giants — Lotte Wellfood and Orion — seemed to thrive on paper last year, as brisk overseas demand pushed sales to record highs. Yet their earnings fortunes ultimately diverged due to a single ingredient: cocoa. Lotte Wellfood posted all-time high annual sales of 4.22 trillion won ($2.9 billion) in 2025, up 4.2 percent from a year earlier, while operating profit fell 30.3 percent to 109.5 billion won, putting margins under strain. Although combined revenue from exports

By The Korea Herald