CJ CheilJedang, Korea's No. 1 comprehensive food company, has been found to have colluded with Samyang Corporation and TS Corporation on sugar prices, and is once again facing a firestorm. With executives and employees admitting the allegations, the facts are solidifying. The prosecution's investigation is also expanding toward upper management.
According to the related industry on the 21st, the Seoul Central District Court the previous day issued arrest warrants for the former head of Food Korea at CJ CheilJedang, who faces allegations of sugar price collusion, and for the CEO of Samyang Corporation. The decision was based on concerns about destruction of evidence. This contrasts with the dismissal of arrest warrants on the 30th of last month for four executives and employees of CJ CheilJedang and Samyang Corporation. At the time, the court dismissed the warrants, saying the suspects admitted the allegations and that there was a need to protect individuals' right to defense regarding a matter that occurred at the organizational level.
The problem is that this collusion is not CJ CheilJedang's first case. CJ CheilJedang was already hit with a penalty surcharge in the tens of billions of won in 2007 for allegedly colluding on sugar prices for about 15 years. The Fair Trade Commission at the time imposed a total penalty surcharge of 51.1 billion won, saying CJ CheilJedang, Samyang Corporation, and TS Corporation colluded on prices and shipment volumes from 1991 to 2005. CJ CheilJedang filed suit, arguing the penalty surcharge calculation method was unfair, but lost at the Supreme Court in 2010.
CJ CheilJedang's growth into a global food company makes this case all the more controversial. CJ CheilJedang's sales, which were around 1 trillion won in 1991, grew to 30 trillion won in 2025. After acquiring the U.S. frozen food company Schwan's, it has been operating on the global stage. It also has an ESG (environment, social, governance) framework and a code of ethical conduct.
CJ CheilJedang states in its ESG report that it "pursues sustainable growth through economic and environmental soundness and social responsibility," and it has also established a code of ethics requiring self-checks on legality, reputation, and stakeholder impact when making decisions. However, given the latest allegations of sugar price collusion, the company will find it hard to avoid criticism that these systems are merely formalities.
In the retail industry, some analysis suggests that price collusion may be less a matter of individual deviation and more a result of organizational culture. The implication is that in structures with strong performance pressure, results may have been prioritized over ethics. In fact, CJ CheilJedang and the CJ Group are known for a stringent personnel and evaluation culture. There is also talk in the industry that restructuring has repeatedly taken the form of recommended resignations rather than voluntary retirement.
CJ CheilJedang has succeeded in bulking up over the past 30 years or so. But it is questionable whether the maturity of organizational culture and ethical management has kept pace with the speed of growth. Looking at the CJ Group's personnel appointments for 2026, Lee Jay-hyun's son, Lee Sun-ho, head of future planning at CJ Holdings, will serve as head of the Future Planning Group and oversee the group's new businesses. One hopes that in the future Lee envisions for the CJ Group, incidents like sugar price collusion will never be repeated.