Japan’s Discontinued Giant Panda Snack Growing Popular Overseas

New York, May 11 (Jiji Press)–A Meiji Co. biscuit snack that was discontinued in Japan more than 40 years ago has become a hit overseas. The Hello Panda snack is currently sold at stores in the United States and other countries outside Japan, with sales of the giant panda-embossed cream-filled biscuits tripling in 2024 from those of 2018. Hoping to turn the product into a major pillar of its overseas snacks business, the Japanese food company plans to invest 10 billion yen to boost production through means such as establishing a new production line at a factory in Pennsylvania. In 1987, Meiji released the “Konnichiwa Panda” snack in Japan, hoping to ride on the coattails of the second giant panda boom in the country, ignited by the birth of giant panda Tong Tong at Ueno Zoo in Tokyo. Succumbing to fierce snack competition in Japan, the product was discontinued in 1989. Meiji started selling Hello Panda, the overseas version of Konnichiwa Panda, in Singapore in 1991, gradually expanding sales to other countries. Currently, the product is sold in over 30 countries, with the United States boasting the largest sales. The company started to manufacture the Hello Panda product locally in the United States back in 2015. Since then, it has achieved high name recognition, with a clerk at a store selling drinks, sweets and other products in Manhattan, New York, saying that the snack is famous and available in many stores. An online blog featured the product as a must-buy at Costco Wholesale Corp.’s membership-only Costco outlets. An official of a U.S. unit of Meiji said that the boost in overseas popularity reflected a rise in recognition thanks to the introduction of smaller packets and promotional activities at stores. Some people who enjoyed the product as children have continued to purchase the snack after growing up, according to the official. While Hello Panda is currently manufactured at a plant in California, Meiji will launch production at the Pennsylvania plant by the end of fiscal 2027. It aims to double Hello Panda sales in the United States by fiscal 2030 from fiscal 2024. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]