Konjac snacks, dubbed "human cat treats," including konjac jelly strips and vegetarian tripe, are becoming phenomenal product categories in the leisure food sector and serving as important growth drivers for companies like Yanjin Shop and Weilong.

Notably, the explosive growth in downstream demand for konjac products is continuously transmitting pressure to upstream raw material suppliers. Industry sources from konjac product contract manufacturers indicate that konjac flour prices have risen consistently in recent years, leading to increasingly thin factory profit margins. Similarly, both Yanjin Shop and Weilong mentioned in their semi-annual reports the impact of rising raw material costs, with both companies experiencing varying degrees of gross margin decline. Industry experts believe that for leisure snack brands like Yanjin Shop and Weilong, the urgent priority is stabilizing supply and reducing costs through upstream supply chain integration.

**Konjac Products Drive Performance Growth**

Weilong built its reputation on seasoned wheat gluten products, commonly known as spicy strips, while Yanjin Shop initially focused on specialty preserved fruit products. Today, both companies are increasingly relying on konjac products to "make money and support their families."

In 2024, konjac jelly strips drove Weilong's vegetable product revenue up 59.1% year-over-year to 3.37 billion yuan, accounting for 53.8% of total revenue and surpassing seasoned wheat gluten products for the first time to become the company's primary revenue contributor. In the same year, Yanjin Shop's leisure konjac products achieved revenue of 838 million yuan, growing 76.09% year-over-year and becoming an important growth driver, representing 15.81% of total revenue.

In the first half of 2025, vegetable products led by konjac jelly strips continued to dominate Weilong's revenue contribution, with vegetable product revenue growing 44.3% year-over-year to 2.109 billion yuan, accounting for 60.5% of total revenue. Yanjin Shop's leisure konjac products reached 791 million yuan in revenue, surging 155.1% year-over-year, with the revenue proportion rising to 26.9%.

Yanjin Shop stated that the company's first-half performance growth was primarily driven by explosive growth in konjac snacks. According to public data, Yanjin Shop's new Chinese-style konjac snack brand "Da Mo Wang" achieved annual sales of 1 billion yuan (including tax) in 2024. In March 2025, the flagship product "Sesame Sauce Vegetarian Tripe" reached monthly sales of over 100 million yuan just 17 months after launch, breaking the record for fastest leisure food single product to reach 100 million in sales.

Weilong acknowledged in its financial report that the group strategically invested in categories with greater market potential based on market changes and consumer demand. This "category with greater potential" refers to vegetable products led by konjac jelly strips. Looking at longer timeframes, vegetable products maintained gross margins of 51.3% and 49.5% in 2023 and 2024 respectively, both higher than spicy strips and other products during the same periods.

According to Jiang Han, senior researcher at Pangu Think Tank, the popularity of konjac jelly strips reflects consumers' increasing focus on food health attributes. Konjac, as a low-calorie, high-fiber ingredient, aligns with modern people's pursuit of healthy eating. Weilong's emphasis on vegetable products, particularly konjac jelly strips, can be viewed as part of the company's "de-spicy strip" strategy.

**2025 Market Size Expected to Exceed 30 Billion Yuan**

Konjac, originally a common ingredient in Southwest China, has become a rapidly growing phenomenal category in the leisure food industry through products like konjac jelly strips.

From Weilong launching its first konjac snack - konjac jelly strips - in July 2014, to leading the development of the first "Ready-to-Eat Konjac Food" group standard in 2020, konjac jelly strips have evolved from a single spicy food product to an independent product category, attracting more brands to enter the market.

In October 2023, Weilong launched a new product "Little Witch" konjac vegetarian tripe following konjac jelly strips. The same month, Yanjin Shop introduced the konjac vegetarian tripe brand "Da Mo Wang." Additionally, over 30 brands including Three Squirrels, Jialong, Jinzai, Koushuiwa, Be&Cheery, Zhou Black Duck, and Laiyifen have continuously launched similar products to capture this niche market segment.

As numerous companies increase their investments, market competition has intensified, and konjac products show diversified trends. In terms of flavors, beyond traditional spicy and fragrant spicy varieties, companies have combined konjac with popular dining flavors, launching hot pot, cilantro sesame sauce, and Samyang fire chicken noodle sauce flavored products. Some companies have integrated konjac with meal accompaniment categories, introducing bamboo shoot konjac and tribute vegetable konjac. Beyond konjac jelly strips, vegetarian tripe, and konjac noodles, konjac forms continue to innovate, with konjac jerky and vegetarian shrimp made from the same konjac raw materials entering the market.

The market size of the entire konjac industry has grown alongside konjac deep-processed products. National Bureau of Statistics data shows that China's konjac industry market size is expected to exceed 30 billion yuan by 2025. The industry's compound annual growth rate (CAGR) is expected to maintain around 11.8% in coming years, with overall market size projected to further grow to 45 billion yuan by 2030.

Food industry analyst Zhu Danpeng believes the konjac industry has long-term growth potential. As more brands and companies enter the konjac market, the industry's scale benefits and fan effects are being further released, and this dividend will not dissipate in the short term. However, companies currently involved in konjac products still lack research and development capabilities, R&D team building, and technological content, leaving significant expansion space in the konjac market.

**Unavoidable Cost Pressures**

Explosive downstream demand growth has directly led to upstream supply shortages and price increases. Konjac industry upstream company Yizhi Konjac publicly stated that "the company has felt sustained growth in market demand for konjac raw materials and deep-processed products. Due to supply-demand relationship changes, konjac prices surged significantly starting June 2024, approaching 2018 highs."

Information from agricultural industry internet platform Yimutian shows that market demand for konjac has surged dramatically in recent years. The average purchase price was around 2 yuan per jin in 2023, but doubled to around 4 yuan per jin in 2024 due to freeze damage and reduced production in major producing areas like Yunnan, plus surging export volumes.

A konjac product contract manufacturer revealed, "Our konjac raw materials mainly come from Sichuan, Yunnan, and Shaanxi. Konjac flour prices have been rising over the past few months, and product profits are getting increasingly thin." A representative from Sichuan Oriental Magic Biotechnology Co., Ltd., a full konjac industry chain ecological enterprise, also told reporters that "konjac flour prices were previously around 40,000+ yuan per ton, but have now risen to over 90,000 yuan per ton this year. Fresh konjac prices have increased from over 3,000 yuan per ton previously to 6,000-7,000 yuan per ton this year."

Upstream raw material price increases transmit pressure down the industry chain, directly pushing up production costs and squeezing gross margins of companies developing konjac products. Financial reports show that Yanjin Shop's main raw material konjac flour average procurement price changed over 30% compared to the same period last year. Affected by this, the company's first-half gross margin declined from 32.53% in the same period last year to 29.66%, down 2.87 percentage points. The gross margin of spicy braised snack products, which include leisure konjac products, decreased 1.41 percentage points to 30.32%. Similarly affected by cost changes, Weilong's gross margin declined 2.6 percentage points from 49.8% in the same period last year to 47.2%.

Regarding cost control, Yanjin Shop responded that "although konjac raw material prices remain at high levels with volatility, the company has certain cost advantages through upstream arrangements by its controlling shareholder." Yanjin Shop has already invested in upstream supply chain integration by establishing a konjac flour processing base in Qujing, Yunnan. For cost control issues, Weilong has focused on efficiency improvements, raising its seventh-generation konjac production line efficiency to 80% this year, with production efficiency nearly doubling compared to the sixth generation.

Jiang Han believes that supply-demand relationship changes directly affecting prices is a normal phenomenon in market economies. Companies can reduce costs through large-scale production and supply chain management optimization, or conduct product innovation and brand premium strategies to enhance profitability and offset partial cost increase impacts. Of course, the most critical and fundamental approach is extending upstream along the industry chain, with companies ensuring raw material supply through self-built or cooperative planting bases to stabilize costs.