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Nongshim Qingdao

By Kim Hyo-jin, staff reporter

Thanks to the international popularity of Shin Ramyun instant noodles, Nongshim’s overseas sales reached a record high this past half-year. Nongshim reported on July 7 that sales figures for the first half of 2014 from its overseas branches and exports totaled US$245 million (about 260 billion won). Nongshim’s overseas sales have grown steadily over the years, from 350 million dollars in 2010 to over 400 million in 2011 then reaching 455 million in 2013.

Shin Ramyun has been the driving force behind Nongshim’s sales growth on the international market. Sales of Shin Ramyun in the first half of 2014 totaled 110 million dollars, almost half of Nongshim’s overseas sales.

Overseas Shin Ramyun sales were 71 million dollars in 2007, and then more than doubled to 160 million by 2010. By 2013, that figure reached 200 million dollars. And this year, the overseas sales goal for this product is a whopping 250 million dollars. Nongshim explained, “Shin Ramyun still holds a great deal of promise for expansion-the excitement surrounding the product has been such that in central Africa, Shin Ramyun is rumored to be a cure for malaria. And as Shin Ramyun sales have increased, Korean ramyun sales in general have also received a boost.”

Of all Nongshim’s overseas branches, China has seen the greatest growth this past half-year. Nongshim China’s sales have increased by more than 40% from last year to 91 million dollars, exceeding sales in the US for the first time. Nongshim attributed this success to “The emerging Chinese taste for ‘spicy Korean ramyun,’ as well as the popularity that South Korean soap operas enjoy in China.” Nongshim made two particularly effective moves: expanding product distribution through Chinese online shopping malls, and working to extend business inland to western China rather than solely focusing sales efforts in major cities on the east coast.

Nongshim has established a new team in their headquarters called the “foreign market development team,” which is working to establish new markets in areas such as Africa and south Asia. Nongshim expanded its sales network to Niger last May, as well as established a base in Australia earlier this year. The company has also advanced into the Kenyan and South African markets. Nongshim commented, “We expect to easily reach our goal of exporting to 100 nations and reaching an overseas sales total of 560 million dollars within the year.”

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