Beyond ramyeon: Korean snack makers brace for a global craze

Major manufacturers like SPC Samlip and Lotte Wellfood are expanding their overseas markets and projecting substantial revenue increases.

Snacks are displayed at a supermarket in Seoul in April. [YONHAP]

Domestic snacks, in addition to ramyeon, have seen a boom in exports. Food manufacturers like SPC Samlip have been expanding their overseas markets on the back of their increased demand, with a push to make lesser known Korean confectionaries such as hoppang (steamed buns) and yakgwa (fried honey cookies) the new global fad.

SPC Samlip expects to see at least a 30 percent increase in revenue with its overseas market expansion, which it hopes will further popularize its flagship hoppang and Korean confection yakgwa — which has become Korea's latest craze due both to its appearance on eating shows as well as a general resurgence of retro snacks — in the United States and Japan.

It will also start marketing its hotteok (pancakes with sweet filling) products more actively overseas.

Hoppang sales increased 126 percent on year in the United States in the first half of this year, the company said in a news release Thursday, through its marketing efforts such as bundling a mini steamer with its bun products.

SPC Samlip's mini steamer, named "Hojjimi" and designed to steam hoppang (steamed buns), was released in Korea in 2020. [SPC SAMLIP]

In Japan, SPC Samlip started selling its Samlip Yakgwa product at all branches of discount store chain Don Quijote on Aug. 15.

Its cream bread, which launched in the United States this June, has sold 200,000 units, thanks largely to its entry into Asian supermarket chain H Mart, the company said.

The push comes as Korean snacks gain an increasingly strong foothold in the global market.

A total of $354.1 million worth of Korean snack exports was shipped in the first half of 2024, up 11.4 percent on year, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said in July.

Should snacks continue to sell at the same rate by the end of 2024, the sector is expected to exceed $700 million in annual exports for the first time.

Among food categories, snacks saw the third-largest increase in exports in the first half of this year after ramyeon, which achieved 32.3 percent on-year growth, and rice products with 41.4 percent. Snacks made up 8.8 percent of all processed food exports, taking the second-largest share after ramyeon.

A customer picks out a box of Choco Pies at a supermarket in Russia. [ORION]

The boost in sales notably came from major snack manufacturers Orion and Lotte Wellfood. Both brands’ Choco Pie products continue to do well in Russia, Vietnam, India and China, while Lotte’s Pepero and Orion’s Turtle Chips have seen boosts in popularity since last year.

Orion’s overseas revenue, last year, was 1.85 trillion won, making up 63.7 percent of its total revenue of 2.91 trillion won, while Lotte’s global revenue of 800.5 billion won made up 19.7 percent of its total revenue of 4.66 trillion won.

Lotte’s overseas revenue brought in by Pepero, its chocolate cookie stick brand, was 54 billion won last year, making up 26.7 percent of its total revenue of 202 billion won. The company announced in February this year that it would spend 33 billion won on the construction of its first overseas Pepero factory in India.

Orion estimates that its Turtle Chips exports to the United States will surpass 20 billion won this year and says it will create a factory in the country should that annual revenue surpass 40 billion won. Meanwhile, its operating profits in China and Vietnam, in the first half of this year, rose 23.1 percent and 16.2 percent, respectively, on year.

The company will finish constructing its production facility for snacks in Hanoi by the end of the year with plans to construct two more in the country.

BY KIM JU-YEON [kim.juyeon2@joongang.co.kr]