Nongshim’s Shin Ramyun set to achieve $681mn in overseas sales

Nongshim Co.’s flagship instant noodle, Shin Ramyun, is poised to achieve more than 1 trillion won ($681 million) in overseas sales as early as this year or by next year.

According to sources from the food industry on Monday, overseas sales of Shin Ramyun are projected to reach around 950 billion to 1 trillion won this year.

Shin Ramyun’s overseas sales jumped around 15 percent in 2023 and 2024, respectively. This year, sales are expected to rise by about 20 percent.

Currently, Samyang Foods Co.’s Hot Chicken Flavor Ramen and Shin Ramyun are the only instant noodles generating overseas sales of this scale.

Shin Ramyun’s overseas sales growth is largely driven by the growing global popularity of Korean ramyeon amid the broader K-food wave, sources said.

(Nongshim)

Collaborations with Netflix’s animated film, “KPop Demon Hunters (KDH),” along with efforts to heighten overseas customer interest and strengthen local production, are also seen as key factors.

Nongshim plans to implement strategies to transform Shin Ramyun from a 1 trillion won overseas sales brand into one a 2 trillion won brand, sources said.

Strategies include expanding production capacity at home and abroad, widening the range of markets for new product launches, and diversifying and localizing its product lineup.

Nongshim plans to accelerate its global push by bringing its export-only plant in Noksan, Busan, into operations in the second half of next year.

The company will also further expand production at its local plants in cities such as Shenzhen and Shanghai in China.

It plans to actively promote global ambassadors like the K-pop girl group aespa to expand Shin Ramyun‘s overseas marketing.

Nongshim aims to achieve total sales of 7.3 trillion won by 2030, a figure that exceeds twice its projected sales for this year of 3.52 trillion won, sources said.

Shin Ramyun accounts for about 30 percent of Nongshim’s entire sales, which reached 2.63 trillion won in the January–September period this year.

Domestic sales account for an upper 30 percent of Shin Ramyun’s entire sales while overseas sales take up around 60 percent.

Nearly 2 billion units of Shin Ramyun are being sold annually. Last year, 1.83 billion units were sold, which is equivalent to a pace of 58 units sold every second worldwide.

Sales are high in China, the U.S., and Japan but recently, they have been also rising in Southeast Asia, Central and South America, Europe, and the Middle East.