Variety spices up life for Henan snack giant

For years, Weilong was synonymous with latiao — spicy wheat gluten strips that became a childhood staple for many Chinese consumers. Today, however, the company's biggest growth engine is no longer the product that gave it its name.

Vegetable-based snacks led by Konjac Shuang now account for nearly two-thirds of Weilong Delicious Global Holdings Ltd's sales, overtaking latiao by a wide margin and reshaping the revenue structure of the country's largest spicy snack maker.

"Our vegetable products, represented by Konjac Shuang, now account for about 65 percent of our sales," Zhu Haifeng, head of production at Weilong, said at the company's production base in Luohe, Henan province.

The shift reflects changing consumer preferences as healthier snack options gain popularity in the country, forcing food companies to rethink portfolios that once relied heavily on indulgent products.

According to Weilong's interim results released on Aug 13, first half revenue rose 6.7 percent year-on-year to 3.71 billion yuan ($553.53 million), while net profit increased 4 percent to 766 million yuan. Behind the headline growth, however, the company's product mix has undergone a dramatic transformation.

Revenue from traditional latiao products fell 9.8 percent to 1.18 billion yuan, reducing their contribution to total sales to 31.8 percent from 37.6 percent a year earlier. In contrast, vegetable products — including Konjac Shuang and Fengchi Kelp — generated 2.44 billion yuan in revenue, up 15.8 percent, accounting for 65.7 percent of total sales.

Vegetable snacks outsold latiao by more than 1.2 billion yuan during the six-month period.

The changing revenue mix reflects a deliberate strategic shift rather than weakening demand alone.

Weilong expanded annual design capacity for vegetable products by more than 40 percent in the first half, while capacity for seasoned flour products remained largely unchanged. The company believes konjac, naturally low in calories and rich in dietary fiber, is well positioned to benefit from consumers' growing preference for healthier snacks. Weilong estimates its market share in the country's konjac snack category exceeds 50 percent.

"The product fits today's healthy consumption trend. Konjac itself is a high-fiber ingredient. By combining it with ingredients such as porcini mushrooms and optimizing the recipe, we've created a product that is healthy, tasty and fun," Zhu said.

The company is also trying to localize its supply chain. While most konjac has traditionally been sourced from South China and Southeast Asia, Weilong has begun working with farmers in Henan to establish local planting bases, aiming to shorten procurement distances and lower costs.