"Strike While the Iron Is Hot"... K-Ramyeon Thriving Overseas as Production Base Investment Accelerates

Samyang in Vietnam, Nongshim in Busan, Ottogi in Gumi...
Race to expand production plants at home and abroad
K-ramyeon exports hit $1.4 billion in Jan.-Sep., up 25.5% year over year

As global demand for K-ramyeon continues to grow, domestic noodle makers such as Samyang Foods, Nongshim and Ottogi are racing to expand their production bases. They are establishing overseas factories in locations that can help reduce logistics costs while also operating export-focused plants in Korea, moving quickly to meet demand pouring in from around the world.

According to industry sources on November 14, Samyang Foods said on November 11 that it would invest a total of 218.6 billion won to build a production plant in the Thuan Thanh area of Vietnam. The company plans to first establish a local production subsidiary, which will invest 131.1 billion won to build the plant. Construction is scheduled for completion by January 31, 2029. The plant is expected to have up to eight production lines, with one initially equipped to produce non-fried noodles.

This will be Samyang Foods' second overseas production plant, following its first overseas production base in Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province, China, which is scheduled for completion next month, in December 2026. The company has announced plans to build another overseas plant just over two years after announcing construction of its Chinese factory in December 2024.

Samyang Foods is establishing overseas production bases in succession because global demand remains strong. On a consolidated basis, the company's third-quarter revenue this year was 791.8 billion won, up 25.3% from the same period a year earlier. Operating profit rose 49.9% to 196.2 billion won. Both revenue and operating profit were the highest ever for a quarter.

Overseas revenue totaled 660.8 billion won, up 29.4% from the same period a year earlier, accounting for 83.4% of total revenue. Although this was slightly below the 83.8% share in the second quarter, it remained high. In particular, the quarterly revenue of both the U.S. and Chinese subsidiaries exceeded 200 billion won, and both continued to grow. The company appears to be expanding its overseas production bases to meet this global demand.

Samyang Foods currently operates noodle factories in three locations - Wonju, Iksan and Miryang - and produces all of its ramyeon products domestically for export. According to the company's semiannual report, average factory utilization in the first half of this year was 101.1% in Wonju, 118.7% in Iksan and 86.7% in Miryang.

A Samyang Foods representative said, "By establishing a production plant in Vietnam and separating production bases by region, we plan to diversify risks related to geopolitical issues, logistics and tariffs, while responding steadily to growing demand in each market." The company appears to have concluded that construction permits and building work can be completed more quickly there than in the United States or Europe, making Vietnam a favorable location for meeting rapidly increasing demand.

Shin Ramyun products are being manufactured at Nongshim's Noksan Export Specialty Factory. Photo courtesy of Nongshim.

Nongshim began operating its export-focused plant in Noksan, Busan, which was completed last month, in October 2026. The plant can produce up to 500 million ramyeon packs a year. Combined with the 700 million packs of export ramyeon that its existing Busan and Gumi plants can produce, the company's domestic export supply capacity will reach 1.2 billion packs annually.

Nongshim also operates factories in the United States and China. Combined with the 3.3 billion packs produced for the domestic market, the 1.7 billion packs made at its plants in those two countries bring Nongshim's total production to as much as 6.2 billion packs.

Nongshim plans to use the Noksan plant to increase supplies to overseas markets, including Europe and Asia, and accelerate its push into new export markets. Based on this, it has set targets for 2030 of 7.3 trillion won in revenue, a 10% operating margin and a 61% share of revenue from overseas markets.

On a consolidated basis, Nongshim's cumulative revenue and operating profit for the first three quarters of this year were 2.8197 trillion won and 176.4 billion won, respectively, up 7.1% and 17.1% from the same period a year earlier. Overseas markets accounted for 39.4% of revenue in the first three quarters, up 2.6 percentage points from a year earlier. In addition, as of the third quarter this year, revenue growth at overseas subsidiaries was 11.4%, far exceeding the 4.6% growth at domestic subsidiaries.

A Nongshim representative said, "Growth at major overseas subsidiaries, including those in the United States and China, and strong exports drove the increase in overall results." Third-quarter revenue this year was 139.9 billion won in the United States and 53.6 billion won in China, up 14.3% and 21.7%, respectively, from the same period a year earlier.

Ottogi is also investing 200 billion won to build a new export ramyeon plant at the Gumi 2 National Industrial Complex in North Gyeongsang Province. Through its affiliate Ottogi Ramyeon, it plans to establish a production base dedicated to export products by 2029. In June, it completed the Samnam Global Logistics Center, an automated logistics hub in Ulsan, strengthening its capacity to handle increased export volumes.

The domestic ramyeon industry is focusing on expanding production facilities because overseas demand for K-ramyeon shows no sign of slowing. According to Korea Customs Service trade statistics, ramyeon exports from January through September this year totaled US$1.41218 billion (approximately 1.88 trillion won), up 25.5% from the same period a year earlier. That is equivalent to about 92.9% of last year's full-year exports of US$1.52086 billion.

Ramyeon exports have increased 125.5% over the past five years. Export value rose steadily from US$674.4 million in 2021, surpassed US$1 billion for the first time in 2024, and topped US$1.5 billion last year. With double-digit growth continuing this year, forecasts suggest that annual exports could exceed US$1.9 billion if the current trend continues.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.