By Jane Han
Staff Reporter
It's neither ``kimchi'' (pickled cabbage) nor ``gochujang'' (hot pepper paste) that sells best overseas. Lotte's Xylitol chewing gum turned out as South Korea's best-selling food product outside of the home market last year, industry data showed Sunday.
The sugarless gum, clinically shown to reduce tooth decay, sold 180 billion won's worth in 2008, according to a tally of Korean food products manufactured here and abroad. The top seller sold best in China, where it recorded annual sales totaling 800 million won in value.
The company now takes up over 50 percent of the share of the chewing gum market in China and Japan, beating out popular products such as Wrigley's Extra. Experts say the product's popularity is largely owing to its taste plus function.
The second product on the sales list was Nong Shin Ramyeon, currently exported to more than 70 countries, including China, Japan and the U.S. The spicy instant cup of noodles rung up overseas sales worth 161 billion won for the foodstuff maker last year, data showed.
Following closely behind was Orion's Chocopie, which tallied overseas sales of 130 billion won. The snack maker currently sells the marshmallow-filled chocolate biscuit in more than 60 countries and runs production factories in China, Russia and Vietnam.
Although lagging behind in snacks, ready-to-eat traditional Korean food such as tofu, kimchi and gochujang also performed strongly.
For example, CJ's tofu pack and ``Dashida'' seasoning each sold more than 50 billion won's worth last year. Daesang's ``Soonchang'' and CJ's ``Haechandeul'' hot pepper pastes saw 20 billion won and 10 billion won in sales, respectively.
Overseas consumers bought 30 billion won's worth of Daesang's ``Jongajip'' kimchi in 2008, according to the report.
Based on the sales results, the company that performed strongest internationally was CJ, the country's largest food manufacturer.
The maker of ready-to-eat steamed rice and a wide range of seasonings recorded domestic sales totaling 3.4 trillion won, while its overseas subsidiaries raked in more than 1.7 trillion won.
Next on the list were, in order, Nong Shim, Lotte Confectionery, Daesang and Orion.
According to government data, the growth rate of South Korea's food exports is on a consistent rise. The amount of shipments grew almost 6 percent from 2003 to 2007 but leaped 18 percent in 2008.