Lee Biscuits Closes After 92 Years: What a Founding Family’s Exit Says About ASEAN Food Manufacturing (2026)

A 92-year-old Malaysian biscuit maker is closing its only factory, and the reason given is not losses. Here is what the closure says about cost pressure, consolidation and outsourcing in Southeast Asian consumer manufacturing.

By Kawee Chong · Commercialisation & Sourcing · Fact-checked by Aiman Zafran · Published 22 Oct 2026

Quick answer: Lee Biscuits, the 92-year-old Malaysian maker of Marie and cream-cracker biscuits, is stopping production at its Pontian, Johor factory at the end of October 2026. About 300 workers are affected, and the factory site is being prepared for sale. Reports say the closure is not due to losses: the parent Lee group is leaving snack manufacturing to focus on rubber and oil palm. This is the group’s second food-plant closure in Johor in three years, after its pineapple cannery shut in November 2023. For brand owners in Malaysia and wider ASEAN, the lesson is about who owns the factory, not about demand for biscuits. Ageing single-brand plants are closing, production is moving to larger factories, and more brands are outsourcing manufacturing. If you buy from a family-owned factory, ask how long its owners plan to stay in manufacturing.

Key takeaways

• The closure is a capital decision, not a demand collapse. Oriental Daily reports the exit is “not due to losses” but part of the group’s overall plan (21 Oct 2026).
• It is the second Lee-group food plant to close in Johor in three years: Lee Pineapple’s Skudai cannery closed on 1 November 2023, and the Lee Biscuits plant in Pontian closes at the end of October 2026.
• Costs are rising for every Malaysian factory: a RM1,700 minimum wage fully in force since August 2025, energy bills up 10–30% for nearly half of the manufacturers FMM surveyed, and tax under the expanded Sales and Service Tax (SST) adding to costs at every stage.
• Consolidation, not de-industrialisation: in the same year, Gardenia moved its Singapore bakery production into Johor Bahru.
• Brand owners using contract manufacturers should plan for a supplier exiting: notice periods, ownership of formulas and moulds, buffer stock and a second source.

Who this is for

This is for brand owners, private-label buyers and sourcing managers who rely on Southeast Asian food, personal-care or household factories, especially older family-owned ones. It also suits investors and analysts tracking how ASEAN manufacturing is consolidating. It will help you decide whether your supply base carries owner-exit risk, and what to put in place before a supplier announces it is closing.

What exactly is closing, and when?

Lee Biscuits Malaysia Sdn Bhd (南益饼干, also known as Nam Lee) will stop production at its Pontian, Johor factory by the end of October 2026. By 22 October, production had already fully stopped and factory stock had sold out after two weeks of clearance sales, according to Oriental Daily (22 Oct 2026). Suppliers, distributors and customers began receiving notices in September, The Rakyat Post reported (21 Oct 2026). Pekan Nanas assemblyman Tan Eng Meng confirmed the closure to China Press, as cited by the New Straits Times (22 Oct 2026).

Sources: Mothership (11 Aug 2023); Oriental Daily (21 Oct, 22 Oct 2026); NST (22 Oct 2026).

Why would a profitable family group walk away from food manufacturing?

For an old family group, a small food factory can be worth more as land and freed-up capital than as a factory. The Lee group was founded by Tan Sri Lee Kong Chian, Southeast Asia’s “Rubber King” and a founding figure of OCBC Bank. Today its wealth rests mainly on financial holdings and land. Forbes put the Lee family’s fortune at US$13.8 billion in September 2026, up 78% in a year on the back of OCBC’s share price (The Star, 3 Sep 2026). Compared with that, a biscuit line in a crowded category earns little and ties up land and management time.

The group has been selling land in Johor for years. One example is two Kulai parcels totalling 121 acres, sold to Scientex for RM123.64 million (The Edge Malaysia, 2017). Scientex is the same group whose packaging consolidation we covered in our Daibochi privatisation retrospective. The pineapple land became oil palm, and the biscuit factory will be sold.

The company also suggested demand was not the issue. A factory spokesperson said there had been no rush of buyers this time, unlike the long queues when the cannery closed. In 2023, very few local firms made pineapple drinks and canned pineapple. Biscuit shoppers, by contrast, “have many choices” (Oriental Daily, 22 Oct 2026). In other words, the brand had become easy to replace.

What cost pressures are Malaysian factories facing in 2025–2026?

Malaysian manufacturers are paying more for labour, energy and taxes at the same time, while low-priced imports hold down selling prices.

None of these costs alone closes a factory, but together they make small, older plants that make one brand hard to justify.

Is this part of a wider pattern of factory closures?

Yes, but it is consolidation rather than an exodus: smaller, older plants close while production moves to larger, more efficient sites.

The deals we have tracked point the same way. Affinity’s US$1.1 billion Yupi buyout and F&N’s privatisation of Cocoaland show capital flowing to scaled snack platforms. Momogi’s acquisition of Vietnam’s Bibica shows regional groups buying heritage biscuit brands rather than building them. Four closures do not prove a trend, but the direction is consistent.

What happens to the brand, the shelf space and the workers?

The shelf space will be filled. What happens to the brand and to the workers is still open.

• Shelf space: retailers will replace Marie and assorted-tin biscuits with other local brands, imports and supermarket private label.
• The brand: no sale, licence or contract-manufacturing deal for the Lee Biscuits trademark has been reported. Oriental Daily’s sources said the group does not plan to launch another biscuit brand. Heritage trademarks often find a buyer who then outsources production, so this is worth watching.
• Workers: about 300 staff remain until month-end to clean up the site. That leaves a pool of experienced food-production, quality and halal-process staff in southern Johor.

What should brand owners do if a supplier might exit?

Treat “will my factory still be making this in three years?” as a sourcing risk, and write the answer into your contract.

1. Ask about ownership and succession. Who owns the plant, is manufacturing core to the group, and is the site worth more as land than as a factory?
2. Secure a written notice period. Lee Biscuits’ customers received about one to two months’ notice (September to end-October). Ask for at least six months.
3. Make sure you own your formula, artwork and moulds. If the specification belongs to the factory, you cannot move it to another one.
4. Keep buffer stock and qualify a second source. That second source should hold the same certifications (halal, GMP, food safety) and be able to make the same product.
5. Watch for warning signs: land sales, unchanged product ranges, no new equipment, quietly dropped SKUs, or a parent group talking about “focusing on core businesses”.
6. Price in cost increases. With wage reviews due in 2027 and energy costs volatile, agree a price-review formula now rather than deal with surprise increases later.

For more on how ASEAN markets and manufacturers are moving, see our Industry Insights hub.

FAQ

Is Lee Biscuits closing permanently?
Production at the Pontian factory ends in October 2026, and factory stock has already sold out. Reports say the group may leave biscuit manufacturing entirely and has no plan for a new biscuit brand. No sale or licensing of the trademark has been announced, so remaining retail stock is the last of the current production.

Did Lee Biscuits close because it was losing money?
Not according to reports. Oriental Daily, citing its own sources, said the closure is not due to losses but follows the group’s overall development plan. A state assemblyman linked it to internal restructuring. No official company statement had been published as of 22 October 2026.

Who owns Lee Biscuits?
Lee Biscuits belongs to the Lee group (南益集团), founded by Tan Sri Lee Kong Chian. The group’s other businesses include natural-rubber processing (Lee Rubber), oil palm and land. Its pineapple cannery, Lee Pineapple, closed in November 2023.

Are many factories closing in Malaysia in 2026?
Several notable plants have announced closures, including Lee Biscuits in Johor and CJ Bio’s Kerteh plant in Terengganu. Other firms are moving production into Malaysia, such as Gardenia’s shift from Singapore to Johor Bahru. The overall picture is consolidation, so check official retrenchment data before drawing a national conclusion.

What does this mean for brands that use contract manufacturers?
It is a reminder that a supplier can exit for reasons that have nothing to do with your orders. Secure a notice period, own your formula and packaging specifications, keep buffer stock and qualify a second factory with matching certifications.

Will biscuit prices in Malaysia go up?
One brand closing is unlikely to move prices on its own, because the category is crowded. Wider cost pressures (wages, energy and tax) are the bigger factor for every manufacturer, and any increase will vary by brand and retailer.

Sources

• Oriental Daily (东方日报): 20 Oct 2026, 21 Oct 2026, 22 Oct 2026
• New Straits Times, “After 92 years, Marie biscuits maker Lee Biscuits prepares to close a chapter” (22 Oct 2026)
• The Rakyat Post, “Marie Cream Cracker Crumbles: Lee Biscuits Calls Time After 92 Years” (21 Oct 2026)
• 8TV News, 南益饼干本月底停产 (Oct 2026)
• Mothership, Lee Pineapple to close Johor factory (11 Aug 2023); MustShareNews (Nov 2023)
• NTUC, Gardenia retrenchment (20 May 2026)
• Industrial & Land, CJ Bio Kerteh plant closure (11 Oct 2026)
• FMT (24 Aug 2026; 9 Oct 2026); Malay Mail (3 Sep 2026); FMM energy-cost survey (2026)
• The Star, Forbes Singapore’s 50 Richest (3 Sep 2026)
• The Edge Malaysia, Scientex buys Johor land from Lee Rubber (2017)

Limitations

This article is based on news reports, a state assemblyman’s confirmation and comments from a factory spokesperson. The Lee group had issued no formal statement by 22 October 2026. The headcount of about 300 comes from Oriental Daily; other outlets gave no figure. Reports differ on the cannery’s last day (31 October or 1 November 2023). The four closures cited are illustrative, not a statistical sample. We did not visit the factory or audit the companies named.

Update history

About the author
Kawee Chong writes on commercialisation and sourcing for OEMReview, covering MOQ, costing, supplier contracts and market moves across Southeast Asia. LinkedIn