Riding the Korean Wave, Korean instant noodles surpassed $1.5 billion in annual exports for the first time ever.
According to tariff service statistics on the 11th, Korea's instant noodle exports last year rose 21.8% from the previous year to a provisional record high of $1.521 billion (about 2.2 trillion won).
Compared with 2022 ($765 million), the figure doubled in three years.
The rising popularity of Korean culture, including K-pop and K-dramas, has fueled the growth in Korean instant noodle exports. In the Netflix animated series "K-pop Demon Hunters" (KDH), which gained global popularity last year, there was even a scene where a member of the girl group "Huntrix" eats kimbap and cup noodles.
The instant noodle industry is also moving aggressively to target the global market in line with this trend. Nongshim has been introducing collaborative "KDH" instant noodles in major markets such as the United States since last year and has established a sales subsidiary in Europe.
Samyang Foods, which is building its first overseas plant in Jiaxing, China, decided to add two production lines to the originally planned number and install eight in total.