Trump's tariffs feared to hit Samyang’s Buldak noodle exports to US

Buldak products are displayed inside a Walmart store in Lavale, Md., in this January photo. Capture from Facebook

Samyang Foods’ popular Buldak instant noodles may become a casualty of U.S. President Donald Trump’s 25 percent tariff on Korean imports, with the move causing concerns that the globally popular product could see retail price increases in the U.S. market.

With no manufacturing plant in the U.S., Samyang Foods faces a tough challenge. The tariff could erode the product’s price competitiveness, leading to a decline in sales in one of its largest overseas markets.

Along with Samyang, other Korean companies in the food, beauty and fashion industries are navigating the new trade landscape differently, depending on the strength of their manufacturing bases outside Korea.

Samyang Foods last year accrued 77 percent of its entire sales from outside Korea. The North American market last year accounted for 28 percent of the company’s overall sales overseas, up eight percent from the previous year.

The company’s U.S. subsidiary last year posted $280 million, up 127 percent from the previous year. The company’s products, manufactured in Korea and shipped to the U.S., were sold at all Walmart stores as well as Costco, Kroger and Target.

A day after the White House's announcement of the tariff on Wednesday (local time), Walmart's online prices for a five-bag bundle of Buldak noodles in various flavors ranged from $6.88 to $17.

CJ CheilJedang, with manufacturing plants run by its U.S. subsidiary Schwan’s Company, has averted the tariff. The Korean company sells dumplings and other frozen food products under its signature brand, Bibigo. The company last year announced an additional manufacturing plant in South Dakota to be completed in 2027.

Nongshim, another leading instant noodle manufacturer in Korea, also operates production facilities in the U.S. to supply North America.

APR's ad for Medicube is displayed on Moxy Downtown Los Angeles, March 20. Courtesy of APR

Korea’s instant noodle exports last year amounted to $1.25 billion, up 31.1 percent from the previous year. Alongside snacks, instant noodles have been the country’s top food export. Rice-based products, kimchi, beverages and ginseng followed with lesser volumes.

Beauty product makers are not safe from the tariff risk as well. The U.S. last year imported beauty products mostly from Korea worth over $1.7 billion, ahead of France's $1.26 billion.

However, industry experts speculated that Korean products’ market shares in the U.S. will not change much despite the tariff because they are well known for cost-effectiveness compared to those from other countries. Amorepacific, the largest beauty product maker here, downplayed the tariff’s impact on its U.S. subsidiary.

Korea’s major original development manufacturing companies in the beauty industry already run manufacturing plants in the United States. Kolmar Korea has a plant in Pennsylvania and plans to introduce a second plant by June. Cosmax also has one in New Jersey.

The tariff has also raised concerns for Korean fashion brand makers with manufacturing plants in countries that were hit by the U.S. reciprocal tariff.

Hansae, an original equipment manufacturing (OEM) company, runs eight plants in Vietnam, which has been hit with Trump’s 46 percent reciprocal tariff. The company said it will respond by increasing production with Texollini, a textile mill in California, to increase more made-in-America products.

SAE-A, another Korean OEM fashion firm with factories in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, is also considering changing production volume across its plants in countries in Southeast Asia and Central and South America.