Sales of instant noodles surge to W1.3tr

Nongshim's Shinramyeon still No. 1; sales of bibimmyeon wane in summer due to heavy rain

A promotional image of Nongshim’s flagship instant noodle products (Nongshim)

 

As time spent at home increased during the coronavirus pandemic, domestic sales of Korean instant noodles surged to 1.3 trillion won ($917 million) as of August, data showed Wednesday.

According to data from market tracker Nielsen IQ Korea, combined sales of four local ramen makers -- Nongshim, Samyang, Ottogi and Paldo -- jumped 4.6 percent from last year’s 1.2 trillion won between January and August.

In terms of market share, Nongshim sat atop with 55.7 percent, followed by Ottogi with 23.2 percent in the cited period. Samyang and Paldo took market shares of 11.2 percent and 9.9 percent, respectively.

The three bestselling ramen products were made by Nongshim. Shinramyeon logged 125 billion won in sales, while Jjapaghetti, or instant black bean ramen, and Anseongtangmyeon recorded 83.6 billion won and 60.9 billion won, respectively.

But sales of three varieties of bibimmyeon -- Korean sweet-and-spicy cold noodles -- manufactured by Nongshim, Paldo and Ottogi plummeted by 12 percent to 30.1 billion won from June to August.

“Sales of bibimmyeon usually rise in a hot summer, when people want to increase their appetite by eating savory yet cold noodles. But due to heavy rainfall during the summer, it seems consumers opted for noodles with soup like ramen instead of bibimmyeon,” said a Nongshim official.

By Byun Hye-jin(hyejin2@heraldcorp.com)