Korean instant-noodle (ramyeon) exports hit $180 million in April 2026, an all-time monthly record, up 35 percent year over year and 11 percent from March, according to industry data reported this spring. The monthly climb has been steady and uninterrupted: $130 million in January, $140 million in February, $160 million in March, $180 million in April — four consecutive record-adjacent months in a row, building on 2025’s already-record full-year total of $1.521 billion.
Samyang Foods is the name most associated with the export boom, and its first-quarter 2026 revenue crossed 700 billion won for the first time in company history. To keep up with global demand, the company’s Miryang No. 1 and No. 2 factories — its noodle production lines specifically — are now running at 82.3 percent capacity utilization. Nongshim, the maker of Shin Ramyun, is seeing its own surge concentrated in a single market: US sales of the Shin Ramyun brand specifically grew 20 percent year over year. The company is backing that growth with infrastructure, building a 191.8 billion won export-dedicated factory in Busan slated for completion in the second half of 2026.
The export boom is happening against a backdrop of a flat domestic ramyeon market, meaning Korea’s two largest instant-noodle makers are increasingly building their growth cases around markets outside Korea entirely — new dedicated factory capacity, rising per-brand overseas sales, and a public rivalry over which company can claim the “No. 1 K-ramyeon” export title, rather than domestic volume growth.
Source: Industry data reported via Dongpo News and related Korean trade coverage, May 2026.
