SEOUL: South Korea ranked second after Vietnam in per capita consumption of "ramyeon," or instant noodles, in 2024, Yonhap News Agency reported, according to the Osaka-based World Instant Noodles Association (WINA).
WINA said the country's overall ramyeon consumption reached 4.1 billion units last year, ranking eighth worldwide, while its per person consumption stood at 79.2 in the country of 51.75 million people.
The Korean figure followed the South-East Asian country, with a population of 100 million, Vietnam's 81 per person consumption, ranked fourth in overall consumption at 8.14 billion units.
Thailand ranked third in terms of per-person consumption at 57, followed by Nepal at 54, Indonesia 52, Japan and Malaysia 47 each, Taiwan 40, the Philippines 39, and China, including Hong Kong, at 31.
Per capita ramyeon consumption tends to be high in Asian countries with traditional noodle-eating cultures while, in contrast, the figure remains below 10 in many European countries.
In recent years, South Korea's ramyeon consumption has steadily risen from 3.79 billion units in 2021 to 3.95 billion in 2022 and 4.04 billion in 2023.
Last year, global ramyeon consumption climbed 2.4 per cent on-year to 123.07 billion units with China, including Hong Kong, topped the list with 43.8 billion units, more than 10 times South Korea's volume.
Ramyeon consumption in Europe remains low, but demand is growing, helped by the global popularity of K-pop and K-food.
Nongshim Co. has released Shin Ramyun products featuring characters from the global hit animated movie "KPop Demon Hunters." Samyang Foods Co, the maker of the world-famous Buldak spicy ramyeon, is also seeing rising demand for its products in overseas markets.
From January to September, South Korea's ramyeon exports jumped 24.7 per cent on-year to 1.6 trillion won (US$1.1 billion), according to the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corp. - Bernama-Yonhap
