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| Shin Ramyun Zepeto / Korea Times file |
Instant noodle exports hit an all-time high of over $765 million (945.3 billion won) last year, powered by an increasing number of people eating at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Data from Korea Customs Service showed that exports of instant noodles reached $765.43 million, up 13.5 percent from a year earlier.
Sales have been on a continuous rise since 2015, increasing to $600 million in 2020 from $470 million in 2019. The figure rose further to $670 million in 2021, and then to over $700 million last year.
Also driving the sales is the growing popularity of Korean culture and entertainment worldwide. The award-winning Korean movie "Parasite" also featured a variety of instant noodles.
China was the largest importer of Korean instant noodles. It purchased $188.9 million worth of Korean-made instant noodles last year, followed by the U.S., Japan, the Philippines, Taiwan and Malaysia.
Market watchers say the global sales of Korean instant noodles are believed to be much larger than the customs agency data showed, since they do not account for products manufactured overseas by local makers.
A growing number of instant noodle manufacturers are also increasing investments overseas.
Nongshim began operating its second plant in Rancho Cucamonga, California, in April 2021. It can produce 350 million packs of instant noodles a year.
Collectively, the two plants can make up to 850 million packs per year in the U.S.
Samyang Foods, another Korean food company, invested 240 billion won to build a manufacturing plant in Miryang, South Gyeongsang Province. It was completed last May.
The maker of the popular instant noodles product Buldak Ramen, or spicy chicken flavor noodles, brings in over 60 percent of its income from exports.
The newly built Miryang plant can produce 600 million packs of ramyun a year.
Meanwhile, instant noodle makers are offering more varieties of products.
Nongshim released its new product Shin Ramyun Zepeto on Jan. 9. It is an instant noodle gaining popularity on the Zepeto metaverse platform.
The limited edition item offers thicker noodles and is three times spicier than the flagship Shin Ramyun.
Its scale heat unit (SHU) is 6,000, much higher than Shin Ramyun's SHU rating of 2,700.
SHU is based on the concentration of capsaicinoids, the constituent in peppers that is responsible for its pungency.
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