CJ CheilJedang's Hetbahn products / Courtesy of CJ CheilJedang

By Kim Jae-heun

CJ CheilJedang is seeking to continue its success story in the United States, after the successful launch of its dumpling, by introducing ready-to-eat rice "hetbahn" to American consumers in August, company officials said Thursday.

Hetbahn, developed by CJ CheilJedang, is the best-selling pre-cooked rice product in the Korean market now in its 27th year. The company has been working on introducing a range of flavors that suit the American consumer palate for the last five years.

"We first introduced Hetbahn in Korea when nobody thought they would purchase pre-cooked rice at a supermarket. We saw the potential with the pre-cooked rice market over 20 years ago and invested in the future food. Our Hetbahn product will become a global K-food product that will be enjoyed by people around the world under the new name of 'multigrain,' a CJ CheilJedang official said.

The pre-cooked rice market in North America has been growing annually by an average of 14 percent in recent years to now reach a 640 billion won ($517.1 million) total value. The market is expected to grow to over 1 trillion won by 2025.

CJ CheilJedang will first release four different types of Hetbahn in the United States that feature combinations of different rice varieties. Under blind testing conditions, American consumers gave an average of 4.2 points out of 5 for the multigrain variety last month.

Major American retailers like Walmart and The Kroger Company have already signed a business partnership with CJ CheilJedang to sell Hetbahn products through their 4,000 stores in North America from August.