Ramen wars: Nongshim caught out by rising Ottogi

Ottogi Co. is emerging as a formidable rival to Nongshim Co. in South Korea's instant noodle market, becoming the most popular ramen for the fifth week in a row, a survey showed.

Nongshim has dominated the country's instant noodle market for decades with its world-famous Shin Ramyun brand. It generates 80% of its sales from instant noodles ranging from stew-type to stir-fried varieties.

By comparison, Ottogi boasts a balanced product mix from instant noodles to sauces and home meal replacements.

Ottogi’s flagship Jin Ramen beat Nongshim’s Shin Ramyun and took the top spot in the category for the fifth straight week during the Sept. 19-25 period.

Jin Ramen accounted for 28.9% of the instant noodle brands sold during the period, while Shin Ramyun slipped to second place with a share of 24.6%.

The survey was based on receipts of purchased items, which consumers registered on the CashCow marketing platform to earn redeemable point rewards. It was conducted jointly by The Korea Economic Daily (KED) and CashCow on Sept. 30.  

In the category of spicy noodles without broth packages, Ottogi also overtook Nongshim with a share of 22.2%. The percentage is three times more than Nongshim’s 7.4%.

The segment is regarded as a niche market, where Ottogi was ranked second after Paldo Co., which commanded a 43.5% share during the Sept. 19-25 week.

The following shows the results of the KED-CashCow survey for other food categories.
 

Ready-to-drink coffee	Market share	Milk	Market share
Brista Tools of Maeil Dairies Co.	20.3%	Seoul Dairy Corp.	41.7%
Cantata of Lotte Chilsung Beverage Co	16.3%	E-Mart's private brand	14%
T.O.P. of Dongsuh Foods Corp	13.8%	Maeil Dairies Co.	13.2%

Beer	Market share	Precooked rice	Market share
Cass of Belgium-based AB InBev	32.9%	CJ Cheiljedang Corp.	53.2%
Terra of Hite Jinro Co.	20.7%	Ottogi	30.2%
FiLite of Hite Jinro Co.	16.4%	E-Mart's private brand	15.9%

Soy sauce	Market share	Canned tuna	Market share
Sempio Co.	52.2%	Dongwon F&B Co.	77.5%
Daesang Corp.	32.2%	Sajo	21.3%
E-Mart's private brand	8.9%	Ottogi	3.8%

Write to Keyong-je Han at hankyung@hankyung.com
Yeonhee Kim edited this article.