South Korea’s instant noodle soup exports reached $380 million last year, renewing a record high for the third year in a row thanks to a wider choice of brands and flavors available to meet different foreign tastes.

According to the Korea Customs Service on Tuesday, the country’s exports of instant noodle soup, called ‘ramyeon’ in Korea, jumped 31.2 percent on year to a new record high of $380 million last year. It is 98.8 times the amount of last year’s instant noodle imports, worth $3.86 million. The country has been rewriting a record high in ramyeon exports every year since 2015 when the figure hit $219 million.

Ramyeon is the country’s all-time favorite quick meal. Its popularity has been growing fast beyond the country’s border for its spicy but addictive favor.

In particular, Korean ramyeon makers’ marketing strategies to introduce products meeting local tastes and preference as well as to use the Korean pop culture’s popularity have worked out well, further boosting the country’s ramyeon exports, said a Korea Customs Service official.

China was the biggest market for Korean ramyeon brands, making up 27.1 percent of Korea’s total ramyeon exports. The United States is the second biggest ramyeon export destination with 10.8 percent, followed by Japan 6.7 percent, Taiwan 5.5 percent and Thailand 5.0 percent.

China has been Korea’s largest trade partner in ramyeon exports since 2013 as Korean ramyeon makers succeeded to win the hearts of Chinese consumers with addictive spicy flavor and good product quality. Demand for Korean ramyeon is also growing rapidly in Thailand with exports to the Southeast Asian country skyrocketing 675.2 percent from two years earlier.

By Chun Jung-hong and Cho Jeehyun

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]