K-food boom going strong: Instant noodles, frozen meals drive export leap

Shoppers browse the instant noodle section at a supermarket in Seoul, April 3. Yonhap

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Driven by the global popularity of K-content, overseas demand for Korean food such as ramen, frozen gimbap and seasoned seaweed has risen sharply.

According to the 2025 domestic food industry production results released Thursday by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, Korea’s food exports reached $7.86 billion last year, up 8.3 percent from the previous year.

Ramen exports in particular surged 26.5 percent year-on-year to $1.5 billion, making instant noodles the top K-food export item. Frozen gimbap followed with $776 million, while seasoned seaweed exports were recorded at $562 million.

Frozen gimbap recorded export growth of 180.9 percent compared with the previous year. Exports of seasoned seaweed also climbed 12.8 percent, maintaining its status as one of Korea’s leading processed seafood exports worldwide.

Global demand for Korean health functional foods has also risen alongside Korean food and beauty trends.

Data showed that exports of health supplements totaled $318 million, up 14.2 percent from $279 million a year earlier.

By category, vitamin and mineral products accounted for $81.8 million, followed by oils containing EPA and DHA at $56.2 million, and probiotics at $50.6 million. These three categories together made up about 60 percent of all health supplement exports.

Meanwhile, domestic demand for health supplements in Korea also continues to grow.

Last year, production of health functional foods reached about $2.05 billion, up 2.2 percent year-on-year.

Vitamin supplements are displayed at a store in Myeong-dong, Seoul, in March 2025. Yonhap

In particular, production of vitamin and mineral products such as vitamin D and magnesium rose 16.3 percent to $462 million, recording the highest production value among all supplement categories.

Vitamin and mineral products also overtook red ginseng for the first time to become the top-selling category in domestic sales statistics. In contrast, production volumes of red ginseng, probiotics and mixed herbal extracts such as Hemohim Angelica declined from the previous year.

This article from Kormedi.com, Korea’s top health care and medical portal, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.