Gum Giant Wrigley Co. Planning to Stick It to Big New Markets : Retail: Billions of potential chewers in the likes of China and India have firm’s mouth watering.

Will gum chewing, a staple for American kids and the bane of schoolteachers and floor-cleaners everywhere, take off in relatively gum-free places such as China, India and Vietnam?

Wrigley thinks so.

Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co., whose name is synonymous with chewing gum, is already selling Double Mint and Juicy Fruit in over 120 countries outside the United States.

In fact, the Chicago-based company gets just over half of its sales volume from international markets. By the year 2000, Wrigley expects to reap about 60% of its sales volume from overseas.

Wrigley, with sales of $1.66 billion in 1994, believes the potential for chewing gum is big where consumption is now very small.

For example, chewing gum consumption per capita in China is not even measurable, according to William Piet, vice president of corporate affairs for Wrigley. By comparison, in the slow-growing U.S. market, per capita consumption is 195 sticks annually.

“It doesn’t take much in the way of increased consumption [internationally] to really build your business,” Piet said. “That’s why we see the international business becoming a much larger portion of our business by the year 2000.”

“Growth most definitely is coming from overseas,” added Michael Branca, an analyst with NatWest Securities.

For the long term, Branca said Wrigley’s international sales growth is supposed to climb by more than 10% a year. In the United States, sales growth is expected to average about 3% as Wrigley continues to take market share from competitors.

However, in the first six months of 1995, international sales volume grew only about 5% as Wrigley focused on new marketing and distribution arrangements instead of tackling additional markets.

Among Wrigley’s newest markets is Vietnam, which it entered recently after trade ties with the United States were re-established.

Wrigley supplies Vietnam with gum made in the Philippines while some distributors from China also ship product into the country.

Wrigley is also eyeing the potentially massive Indian market, where it hopes to convert consumers from betel nuts to chewing gum. The nuts come from palm plants and are chewed like gum, sometimes with lime and leaves of the plant.

Piet admits India remains a bit of a gamble because of government regulations regarding some products.

“The Indian consumer does chew for both breath-freshening and relaxation,” Piet said.

Wrigley also is expanding its longstanding presence in China beyond just the major coastal cities.

“Wrigley has been advertised along the Yangtze River since before World War II,” Piet said.

As its international business grows, Wrigley likely will build new product plants in addition to the 13 it now has outside the United States.

“We’re looking at capital expenditures to stay pretty much where they are for the next few years at over $100 million,” Piet said. “That seems to indicate at least some new or increased production.”

While Wrigley hasn’t announced any new plants, Piet said the potential exists for new facilities in the Pacific Rim and the former East Bloc. Its new plant in Poland is expected to become fully operational in the first quarter next year.

Wrigley isn’t the only company eyeing foreign markets. In the former East Bloc, Wrigley bumps into European competitors, and Japanese firms are competing in China.

One market Wrigley is unlikely to penetrate: Singapore, where chewing gum is forbidden by law.