Samyang to boost production as instant noodle products boom in US, Canada

Samyang Roundsquare CEO Kim Jung-soo speaks during a groundbreaking ceremony for Samyang Foods' second factory in Miryang, South Gyeongsang Province, Wednesday. Courtesy of Samyang Foods

Samyang Foods has begun building a new factory in Korea to boost its manufacturing capacity for noodle products to export to the United States and Canada, according to the country's major food company Wednesday.

The factory is being built in Miryang, South Gyeongsang Province, where the company has been running its latest smart factory for instant noodle products since 2022 to export to China. The company currently runs three manufacturing plants, all in Korea.

The Second Miryang Factory, expected to be completed within the first half of the next year with a construction cost of 164 billion won ($123 million), will produce 560 million plastic-packed instant noodle products per year. The addition will increase the company's annual instant noodle production capacity from 1.8 billion to 2.36 billion packs.

The food subsidiary of Samyang Roundsquare held a groundbreaking ceremony at the site on Wednesday. Officials from the Ministry of Land, Agriculture and Rural Affairs' agricultural innovation policy bureau, Samyang Roundsquare CEO Kim Jung-soo, Samyang Foods CEO Kim Dong-chan and officials from the governments of Miryang and South Gyeongsang Province attended the event.

Samyang Foods last year recorded the highest volume of exports among the country's agricultural and manufactured food companies. Its flagship products, spicy Buldak-series stir-fried noodles and long-surviving Samyang Ramen, contributed to the country's overall instant noodle exports last year, which registered $950 million, a 24 percent year-on-year increase. Korea's overall exports of agricultural and manufactured foods last year stood at $9.16 billion, the highest figure ever.

"Samyang's new Second Miryang Factory will be a major boost to the country's ongoing bids to broaden its export capacity," an agricultural innovation policy bureau official said at the groundbreaking event. "We'll support our key export players so that they can play in a bigger playground."

By the end of the last month, the country's agricultural and manufactured food exports logged $1.47 billion overall, a 6 percent year-on-year increase. Instant noodles saw the biggest increase in exports with 35.2 percent, while rice-based products saw a 27.9 percent increase, ginseng stood at 30.7 percent, beverages were at 27.9 percent and kimchi 13.2 percent.

The volume of food exports saw an increase of 24.2 percent in the European Union's market, 15.9 percent in the United States and 7.9 percent in Asean countries.