Korean instant noodles enjoy soaring popularity abroad (The Korea Times)

Korean instant noodles are enjoying their heyday abroad on the back of the explosive popularity of hallyu as a growing number of Korean wave fans around the world seek to try different types of food associated with the Asian country.

According to the Korea Customs Service and the local food industry, Monday, exports of Korean-made instant noodles rose to an all-time high of $71.58 million (89.5 billion won) in March, up 20 percent from the same month last year. The figure increased 35.8 percent from a month ago.

The increasing popularity of K-pop, Korean films and drama have contributed much to the record exports of hugely-popular instant noodles like Shin Ramyun, Neoguri (udon-style noodles), Chapagetti (black bean-sauce noodles) and Hot Chicken Flavor Ramen.

In particular, Nongshim's signature noodle dish, Chapaguri, which mixes Chapaghetti and Neoguri, grabbed keen interest overseas after it appeared in the Oscar-winning film "Parasite" in 2019.

"After Parasite won the Oscar in 2020, many YouTubers in the United States shared their experience with Chapaghetti online. Also, restaurants in New York introduced their own versions of Chapaghetti, which went viral in the city. Here, Nongshim has been preparing to expand its business abroad from 2017 and the timing was just perfect for our products to ride on the popularity of K-culture," a Nongshim official said.

Nongshim currently exports its instant noodles to some 100 countries around the world and in 2017, Walmart began selling Nongshim products at all of its stores in North America, which helped the food company to achieve $1.14 billion in sales abroad.

"We are preparing to open our second production facility in the United States at the end of this month," the official added.

Samyang Foods' Hot Chicken Flavor Ramen is selling well in Southeast Asia and recently, countries in the Middle East have also shown interest in the instant noodle.

"YouTubers challenging the spiciness of Hot Chicken Flavor Ramen went viral online, which we didn't expect. We have gained our halal certification from the Korea Muslim Federation and we obtained Indonesian MUI certification too. This has helped our business to expand in Southeast Asia and the Middle East," a Samyang Foods official said.

Meanwhile, China was the largest overseas market for Korean instant noodle makers in March with exports to that country reaching $19.08 million, followed by the United States at $9.75 million and Japan at $5.71 million.

Originally posted on 'The Korea Times' by Kim Jae-Heun