The code
What counts as "ramyeon" in trade data
Every shipment leaving Korea is declared to customs under a product code. Korea uses a 10-digit version of the international Harmonized System (HS), called HSK. Instant noodles sit under HS 1902.30, which KITA's database labels "other pasta" (그 밖의 파스타). Within it, Korea gives ramyeon its own line, 1902.30-1010 (라면). The two other lines under 1902.30 are both labelled "other" (기타).1
In 2025 the ramyeon line made up $1.52 billion of the $1.63 billion shipped under all of HS 1902.30, or about 93% (DabPop's calculation). The two "other" lines added $74.3 million and $37.2 million.1 This post uses the ramyeon line only. So its figures are a little lower than the total for the whole six-digit HS 1902.30 code.
The numbers come from customs declarations: KITA says Korean trade statistics are based on records sent to the Korea Customs Service's central computer by its customs offices once an export is declared and cleared.2 They count noodles shipped from Korea, not noodles that Korean companies make abroad (see "Factories" below).
The decade
Eleven straight years of growth
Ramyeon exports grew every year from 2015 to 2025. They went from $218.8 million to $1.52 billion, about seven times larger, while the weight shipped rose from 55,378 to 374,313 tonnes. The last fall was in 2014, when exports slipped 1.9% to $208.5 million.1 The value doubled in just three years, from $765.4 million in 2022.13
The biggest jumps were in 2016 (+32.7%), 2017 (+31.2%), 2024 (+31.1%) and 2020 (+29.2%). Exports first passed $1 billion in 2024; the agriculture ministry announced that the January–October total had already reached $1.02 billion.15 At the time, the agriculture minister put $1 billion of exports at about 2.07 billion instant noodles.5
Value has grown a little faster than volume lately. Dividing the table's value by its weight, the average export was worth about $3.40 per kilogram in 2019 and 2020, and $4.06 in 2025.1
Buldak
One brand, made in Korea, shipped worldwide
Samyang Foods (삼양식품), which made Korea's first ramyeon in 1963, launched its spicy Buldak (불닭) noodle series in April 2012.6 In 2023 the Buldak brand accounted for 84% of the company's global sales, according to The Korea Herald.6
Samyang's 2025 annual report puts the exports of its noodle and snack business at ₩1.824 trillion, up from ₩1.306 trillion in 2024 and ₩793.4 billion in 2023. The report says the business's overseas sales grew 39.6% as sales of Buldak Bokkeum Myeon (불닭볶음면), its main export item, expanded abroad.7
Unlike its big rivals, Samyang made all of its noodles in Korea as of mid-2025. It opened a second plant at Miryang, South Gyeongsang Province, on June 11, 2025, raising its yearly ramyeon capacity from 2.08 billion to 2.8 billion packs, and its first overseas plant, in China, is due in 2027.8 That's one reason Buldak's success shows up so directly in the export figures.
The makers
What the big three report in their filings
Korean listed companies file annual business reports with the Financial Supervisory Service's DART system. Three of the best-known ramyeon makers report their foreign business in different ways, so their figures aren't directly comparable:
Samyang Foods: ₩1.824 trillion of noodle and snack exports in 2025, ₩1.884 trillion of exports across its whole food business.7
Nongshim (농심), the long-time market leader at home and the company behind Shin Ramyun (신라면)6: its "exports" line for ramyeon was ₩228.0 billion in 2025, down from ₩246.7 billion in 2024 and up from ₩198.2 billion in 2023. Nongshim also runs its own factories in China and the US.9
Ottogi (오뚜기, also written Otoki), maker of Jin Ramen (진라면): it reports overseas sales of all products rather than ramyeon exports, ₩409.7 billion in 2025, up from ₩361.4 billion.10 That was about 11.2% of its total sales, and it exports to more than 70 countries.11
On those reported lines, Samyang's noodle-and-snack exports were about eight times Nongshim's ramyeon exports in 2025 (DabPop's calculation).79
Markets
China first, the US second
China and the US together took more than 40% of Korea's ramyeon exports in 2025. Shipments to China rose 47.9% to $385 million, a quarter of the total, while the US took $255 million.3 The order was the same in 2024's first ten months: China $210 million and the US $180 million, followed by the Netherlands, Japan and Britain, according to the agriculture ministry.5
US shipments grew 18.1% in 2025, below the overall rate, after averaging 68% a year from 2022 to 2024. The Korea Herald reported that a 15% US tariff appeared to have weighed on that growth.3 Korea and the US agreed on that 15% rate on July 31, 2025. In July, ramyeon exports to the US fell 17.8% to $14 million; a Samyang official told the paper the company had sent much of its exports before June, because of tariff concerns, to build up US stock.12
Samyang's US subsidiary, which buys its products from Samyang in Korea, reported 2025 sales of about $419 million, up 50.8%.7
Factories
Why exports undercount Korean noodles sold abroad
Customs figures only count noodles made in Korea. Nongshim has had a US subsidiary since 1994 and runs two American plants that handle most of its US demand.13 Because makers such as Nongshim operate factories in the US and China, industry officials told The Korea Herald that overseas sales of Korean ramyeon are likely to be far higher than the export figures.3
The makers are also adding capacity at home just for export:
Nongshim: its Noksan Export Plant in Busan, due in the second half of 2026, is designed for 500 million servings a year. That would nearly double its export output to 1.2 billion units.14
Ottogi: its noodle affiliate plans a ₩200 billion export-only plant in Gumi, North Gyeongsang Province, by 2029.11 Ottogi also set up a US unit in 2025 and plans a California plant by 2027.4
Drivers
What officials and companies say drove the jumps
In 2024 the agriculture ministry put the surge down to the global spread of Korean content, including dramas and films, and to viral ramyeon-eating challenges on social media among younger people abroad.5
For 2025 it cited rising global demand, more production capacity and a steadier supply chain, with sales growing in Central Asia and the Middle East as well as China and the US.4 Nongshim sold co-branded products tied to the Netflix film KPop Demon Hunters in the US, and in Korea a limited run of three Shin Ramyun cups based on the cups that appear in the film.39
These are the reasons the ministry and the companies gave. The trade data itself records only what was shipped, where and for how much.
From January to August 2026, Korea exported $1.243 billion of ramyeon, up 27.1% from $977.8 million a year earlier. That's about 82% of all of 2025 in two-thirds of the year (DabPop's calculation). The weight shipped rose 24.2% to 297,235 tonnes.1
Other official counts show the same pace. The agriculture ministry put first-quarter ramyeon exports at $424.5 million, up 26.4%.15 The state-run Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corp. (aT) said Korea's food exports passed $10 billion after 253 days of 2026, with instant noodle exports at $1.31 billion, up 27.2%.16
Samyang Foods reported record overseas sales of ₩645.8 billion in the April–June quarter, up 46.7%, the first time a quarter has passed ₩600 billion.17
