McDonald's Straws, Chagee Cups: One Chinese Factory's Cross-Border Supply-Chain Battle

This is an English adaptation of a FoodBud historical article originally published on February 25, 2025.

For operators who think about cups, straws and lids as a cost line, Fuling (富岭股份) shows how a disposables supplier is repositioning around new-style tea chains and a multi-country factory footprint — and the risks that come with it.

The business

Fuling makes plastic and biodegradable foodservice disposables (cutlery, straws, takeout boxes, cups/lids), serving global chains including McDonald's and KFC. North America is its core market, with production in the US, China, Mexico and Indonesia to hedge trade risk and sit close to demand. It runs a sell-to-produce, produce-to-purchase model with automated lines and group purchasing.

Revenue mix is shifting: plastic disposables were 70.36% of H1 2024 revenue (down from 80.57% in 2021); biodegradable held ~6%; paper and other rose to 23.75%. The standout was paper cups (incl. boxes), whose volume jumped 158.83% in 2023 — driven by Chinese new-style tea chains such as Chagee (霸王茶姬) and ChaPanda (茶百道).

2024 financials

H1 2024 revenue fell 41.8% to RMB 1.095 billion on soft demand, then Q3 (Jul–Sep) recovered 15.24% to RMB 608M; full-year revenue was guided to RMB 2.18–2.28 billion (+15.4–20.7%). H1 net profit fell ~49% to RMB 109M (attributable net profit RMB 110M) on price cuts and higher ocean-freight; full-year attributable net profit was guided to RMB 220–235M (+2–9%). Gross margin was squeezed by pricing and freight. Raw materials (PP, PS) are 50%+ of product cost and track oil prices.

The global-factory test

Fuling's "acquisition trilogy" (DOMO in the US for USD 1; Zhejiang Grunt biomaterials for RMB 17.835M; Mexico Fuling for no consideration) aimed to hedge US-China trade friction, add bio-based tech, and consolidate affiliates. Results diverged sharply in H1 2024: Indonesia thrived (revenue +21.6%, net profit +159.3%, 13.4% net margin); the US slowed (the Pennsylvania plant's net profit fell from RMB 9.52M to RMB 1.07M; the sales arm's revenue -33.8%; DOMO swung to a loss); and Mexico kept losing money (revenue -60.3%, negative net assets). Overall, assets grew ~3.95% and revenue ~11.29%, but total profit slipped 0.40% — growth bought at the cost of near-term profit.

Customer concentration and receivables

Top-five customer concentration rose to 47.84% of H1 2024 revenue (from 35.96% in 2023). Chagee became the single largest customer at 17.69% (RMB 194M), mainly paper cups and PLA straws, alongside North American distributors (Imperial Dade, R.J. Schinner, Veritiv, Lollicup). No single customer exceeded 20%. Receivables quality is a genuine strength: 99%+ collection for four straight years, with 99.92% of receivables under one year, a 5% provision rate (RMB 15.07M provisioned in H1) and only RMB 207,800 of actual long-aged bad debt.

Risks the article flags

Heavy reliance on the US market (60%+ of revenue) and on a few large customers; US-China tariff exposure (notably a 25% tariff on plastic lids that Fuling absorbs); ocean-freight and raw-material/FX volatility; and the unproven payoff of the biomaterials bet. The framing: survive via tea chains and globalization, or get squeezed by cost and policy — with little middle ground.