SEOUL, May 25 (Korea Bizwire) — In contrast to the decline in the sales of baby formula due to a low fertility rate, the protein supplement market for adults is growing in South Korea.
The size of the nation’s offline baby formula market has been on a downward trend, falling to 140.7 billion won (US$125 million) in 2019 from 162.9 billion won in 2017, according to the data compiled by the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corp.
In the first half of last year, sales of baby formula declined further to 53.9 billion won, down 25 percent year on year.
To offset the decline in sales of baby formula products, dairy processing companies are jumping into the market for protein supplements, which are often called milk formula for adults.
Maeil Dairies Co., a major Korean dairy company, saw sales of its Selex products released in November 2018 shoot up to 50 billion won in 2020 from 25 billion won in 2019.
Early this month, the cumulative sales of the Selex products surpassed the 100 billion won mark.
‘Himmune Protein Balance,’ a protein supplement product released in February 2020 by Ildong Foodis Co., marked more than 35 percent growth in monthly sales, with its cumulative sales reaching 40 billion won after only one year.
Daesang Life Science Corp. also saw the cumulative sales of its protein supplement product ‘MyMeal’ – released in August 2019 – reach 26 billion won in April 2021.
Image Credit: Yonhap / Maeil Dairies / photonews@koreabizwire.com
