Orion's Jeju Yongamsoo (Orion Holdings)

Orion Holdings, the holding company of snack maker Orion Group, announced Monday that it had signed a contract with Chinese partners to export its mineral water product, Jeju Yongamsoo.

With its partnerships with Qingdao Yongping Market Management and Qingdao Guoxin Culture and Sports Industry, Orion Holdings aims to increase its sales of the water product in China.

"Orion expects the company's production and sales of its water product to significantly increase on the latest signing with the Chinese partners," an official from Orion Holdings said.

Qingdao Yongping Market Management is one of the largest Chinese beverage companies, and produces and sells Tsingtao beer products in the country. Orion Holdings expects to benefit from the nationwide sales network that its Chinese partner has.

Qingdao Guoxin Culture and Sports Industry, in the meantime, will become Orion Holding’s partner to promote the water product in China.

Detailed export volumes of Orion’s mineral water product, however, have not been decided, according to the company.

“Orion will embark on discussions with the counterparts to sign additional contracts regarding specific export volumes and when the products will be shipped,” the official said.

Jeju Yongamsoo was launched in 2019. The company then announced plans to increase its footing in the bottled water markets of China, Vietnam, Indonesia, India and Russia.

Orion Holdings first exported its mineral water product to China in 2020 and continued to seek new partnerships to ramp up sales in the country with a rapidly growing bottled water market.

The size of China's bottled water market was estimated at 34 trillion won ($25.8 billion), and it is expected to surpass 60 trillion by next year, according to Orion Holdings.

“The latest signing will become a great opportunity to promote its quality mineral water product in China," the official added.

Jeju Yongamsoo is produced at a plant on Jeju Island. The water product is naturally filtered through 400,000-year-old basalt, making the alkaline mineral water product rich in minerals.

Orion Holdings said its alkaline water product contains 132 milligrams of calcium, 44 mg of potassium and 18 mg of magnesium per 2 liters.

By Shim Woo-hyun (ws@heraldcorp.com)