Life News
Lee Biscuits ends production after 92 years: goodbye to Marie biscuits and iced gems
Lee Biscuits, the maker of Marie biscuits, cream crackers and colourful iced gems, is ending production after 92 years. Its factory in Pontian, in the Malaysian state of Johor, is set to stop manufacturing by the end of October, Singapore's Mothership and Malaysia's Malay Mail and SAYS reported on October 23. A week later CNA traced the brand's history for readers on both sides of the causeway.
"After 92 years, production is coming to an end." — CNA
The company was founded in Singapore in 1934 by the entrepreneur and philanthropist Lee Kong Chian. Mothership says it stayed there for 21 years before moving to Malaysia in 1955; Malay Mail adds that it worked in Tampoi, Johor Bahru, before production moved to Pontian in 2005. Both say the parent group is restructuring to focus on its core rubber and palm oil holdings. It is the group's second Johor food factory to close in three years, after the Lee Pineapple canning plant in 2023.
How each outlet framed it
- CNA — an "end of an era" story about household staples for generations of Singaporeans and Malaysians.
- Mothership — the Singapore roots, and where shoppers can still buy the biscuits.
- Malay Mail — the business reasons and the history of the group's Johor factories.
- SAYS — the workers, and the full list of snacks, from fish-shaped crackers to large tins.
For shoppers: Mothership says products are still on sale through supermarket websites and online retailers, and Malay Mail, citing AsiaOne, counted at least 23 Lee Biscuits products at NTUC FairPrice in Singapore. None of the outlets says whether the brand will be made elsewhere, so remaining stock may be the last.
Where the numbers differ: SAYS, citing China Press, says about 300 employees will lose their jobs. Mothership and Malay Mail say staff are being laid off but give no number, and none of the reports mentions compensation.