Owner of Master Kong lifts its profile

Tingyi Holding, the largest instant noodle maker in China, is seeking to raise its profile in an effort to boost the local consumption of its convenience foods.

The company, owner of the ubiquitous household brand Master Kong, announced at the 8th World Instant Noodles Summit in Tianjin yesterday that its chairman, Wei Ing-chou, has taken on the post of director general of the World Instant Noodles Association. Tingyi Holding is also playing host to the association's biennial summit.

'I hope we can take advantage of this platform to make more Chinese consumers learn about instant noodles,' said Wei, the founder of Tingyi. Tingyi is keen to boost its profile in the instant noodle market, which is under increasing cost pressure and facing heightened competition.

Mainland consumers last year ate 42.5 billion packets of instant noodles, around 43 per cent of total world consumption, according to the World Instant Noodle Association. But per capita consumption of instant noodles on the mainland was only 32 packets a year, lower than in South Korea, Indonesia, Japan and Hong Kong.

Master Kong has long been the dominant single brand, commanding over half the market in the country. However, the company's top seller, Braised Beef Noodles, has recently been challenged by its rival Uni-President's star product, Pickle Vegetable and Beef Noodle. The line has helped Uni-President to increase its market share to 13.5 per cent from 9.5 per cent last year.

It was reported earlier this month that Tingyi offered to pay small groceries and supermarkets in the north-east of the country in return for them not displaying Uni-President's noodles on their shelves. The China Enterprise Post newspaper quoted a regional sales manager of Uni-President as saying it had lost around 40,000 sales points because of Tingyi's alleged tactics.