The meat’s not real, but the brand is

Oyang Crab Meat

In the 1980s, pollock, a main ingredient in imitation crab meat, was abundant, with Korea’s fishing towns pulling in thousands of tons. Raw pollock sold at $500 per ton, though after processing, it could go for more.

It was then that Kim Sung-soo, the late chairman of Oyang Corporation, took an interest in the Japanese imitation crab meat market. Imported Japanese imitation crab meat was selling at a whopping price of 12,000 won ($9.73) for a 250-gram package.

Oyang Corporation invested more than 10 billion won to build manufacturing facilities on a 5,400-ton trawler acquired from Korea Wonyang in 1981. The key to making imitation crab meat palatable was processing pollock right after capture. The fish was pounded into paste, then reformed into long, thin strips, which are themselves pressed into a rectangular mold and flavored.

Produced by Korea’s own technology, “Oyang Crab Meat” was a big hit, selling for just 1,500 won per 250 grams. Oyang Crab Meat was popular as an ingredient in salads, gimbap seaweed wraps and skewers. After Oyang’s success, many food retailers including Sajo jumped into the market.

Amid this increased competition, Oyang Corporation built a new factory in Anseong, Gyeonggi, in 1985, and three years later, expanded it to a total of 25 assembly lines capable of producing 150 kilograms of crab meat per line each day. Still, tough rivalries, a rise in oil prices and legal battles drove the company into crisis. In 2007, Chairman Kim promised to “defend the Oyang brand” even as he decided to sell the company to Sajo Group. Though the company is now Sajo Oyang, the product is still Oyang Crab Meat.

In a survey of 1,200 imitation crab meat customers, half of the respondents had bought Oyang Crab Meat. Yet Oyang Crab Meat accounts for only 20 percent of the market. Perhaps in the minds of some, Oyang is now synonymous with imitation crab meat.

By Choi Ji-young [ebusiness@joongang.co.kr]