China under spell of Korean spicy instant noodles; Samyang leads  

South Korea’s spicy instant noodles are poised to captivate China, the world’s largest ramen market, with their shipments to the neighboring country skyrocketing thanks to flavors appealing to local palates and effective localization campaigns.

According to data from Korean alternative data platform KED Aicel, monthly Korean ramen, or ramyun, exports to China hit $20.31 million in January, up 157% from the same month last year.

The total exports of Korean spicy instant noodle, or ramen, products to overseas markets, including the US and Japan, also increased by 25.4% to $107 million over the same period.

The largest importer of Korean ramen was China, accounting for 18.9% of total Korean ramen outbound shipments in January, followed by the US with 16.5% and the Netherlands, the so-called gateway to Europe, with 5.5%.

Japan and the Philippines were the fourth and fifth-largest Korean ramen importers, respectively.

Ramen exports to the US and the Philippines in the first month of this year jumped 49.8% year over year, each, while those to Japan and the Netherlands fell 5.5% and 36.2%, respectively.

The global obsession with Korean instant noodles was largely attributable to a slew of spicy instant noodle-eating challenge videos going viral, starting in 2014.   

Samyang Foods Co.'s Hot Chicken Flavor Ramen, also called Buldak Bokkeum Myeon in Korean, led the pack.

PUSHING LIMITS

KED Aicel data showed that the main outpost of Korean ramen exports to China is Miryang, South Gyeongsang Province, where Samyang has a factory to make its global-hit hot spicy noodle products.

The total export value of ramen shipped from three cities in Korea, where Samyang’s three main ramen factories, including Miryang, are located, stood at $16.51 million in January, up a whopping 286.2% from a year ago.

Another major Korean instant noodle maker Ottogi Corp., famous for its flagship Jin Ramen, also enjoyed brisk sales of its ramen in China.

The total ramen shipments to China from Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, where Ottogi’s ramen factory is located, surged a whopping 134-fold year on year to $2.33 million in the first month of this year.

Its ramen exports to China made up 11.5% of Korea’s total ramen exports to the world’s No. 2 economy in the cited month, considered meager compared to Samyang’s 81.3%, but its growth pace was undeniably rapid looking at it over a year.

The secret behind Ottogi’s brisk ramen sales was its flagship Jin Ramen marketing campaign with global Korean pop sensation BTS member Jin, now the ramen’s global brand ambassador.

Nongshim Co., the country’s No. 1 ramen producer by sales, however, saw nearly no change in instant noodle exports to China over the same period.

LOCALIZATION WORKS LIKE MAGIC

Samyang and Ottogi’s stellar performance was also credited to their well-received localization strategies, analysts said.

China’s e-commerce giant Taobao operates Samyang Foods’ online flagship store, which attracts 100,000 visitors annually, as well as Ottogi Store drawing about 50,000 visitors.

The two stores play diverse video ads produced in the local language to lure local consumers.

Samyang also has an official account on Douyin, the Chinese equivalent of TikTok, which boasts about 700,000 followers. Ottogi also enjoys about 100,000 followers on its Douyin account.

“Ottogi ramen has improved its brand awareness among Chinese consumers, leading to a rapid rise in its ramen exports to the country,” said Park I-kyung, a data analyst at Hankyung Aicel.

The two Korean ramen producers have also been active in adding local flavors to their products to amuse local palates.

Samyang officially launched Hot Chicken Flavor Ramen-Pu Pad Pong Curry, or Thai crab curry flavor ramen, in China last year after the new noodle product’s challenge videos went viral on social media.

It introduced Hot Chicken Flavor Habanero Lime Ramen, or Buldak Habanero Lime Ramen, in the US and Yakisoba Buldak in Japan.

SAMYANG MARKET CAP JUMPS 9-FOLD

Samyang Foods’ global hit Hot Chicken Flavor Ramen has upended the Korean instant noodle market landscape.

Korea’s long-time No. 2 ramen seller Samyang toppled its bigger rival Nongshim on the Korean stock market in market capitalization thanks to the robust global sales of its Buldak brand instant noodles.

Since the first Buldak brand ramen launch in 2012, Samyang Foods’ market capitalization has zoomed nearly ninefold.

Its market value reached 6.49 trillion won ($4.4 billion) as of Feb. 28, when its shares closed at 860,000 won apiece.

This is the second-largest market cap among Kospi-listed food, beverage and tobacco stocks after KT&G Corp. with 12.32 trillion won.

Since its market value beat its bigger cross-town rival Nongshim’s value last year for the first time, its market cap is about three times larger than Nongshim’s 2.07 trillion won.   

According to KED Aicel data, Samyang stock has rallied whenever its preliminary 10-day exports jumped.

Samyang Foods’ operating profit in 2024 more than doubled to 344.2 billion won from the previous year on sales of 1.73 trillion won, up 45% over the same period.

Before the launch of its Buldak brand, its operating profit and sales in 2011 were 14.9 billion won and 298.7 billion won, respectively.

Meanwhile, Ottogi’s market cap is 1.55 trillion won, as its shares have not yet gained momentum.

BEYOND CHINA

Korean spicy instant noodles have also gained in popularity in other countries such as the US in recent years.

Samyang’s Carbonara Hot Chicken Ramen is the third-most popular packaged noodle product on Amazon.com after No. 1 Nissin Top Ramen and No. 2 Maruchan Instant Lunch.

Carbonara Hot Chicken Ramen is also mentioned more than Japanese rivals' offerings on American social news aggregation, content rating and social media Reddit’s Instant Ramen channel.

Thanks to its growing popularity overseas, Korean ramen was Asia’s fourth-largest economy’s top export item in the country’s food and agricultural export category last year.

Korea’s ramen exports jumped 31.1% from 2023 to $1.25 billion in 2024, according to Korea’s Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

Write to Tae-Ho Lee and Park I-kyung at thlee@hankyung.com

Sookyung Seo edited this article.