Korea tops per-capita ramyeon consumption

Last year, Koreans consumed the most instant noodles (ramyeon noodles) per capita in the world. This is the equivalent of 74.1 packages of instant noodles eaten by each Korean.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs released this on Friday quoting the results of a survey by the World Instant Noodles Association on some 15 nations including Korea, the U.S. and Japan. Vietnam took second place with 60.3 packages of ramyeon consumed per capita, followed by Indonesia, with 57.3.

In 2013, instant noodle consumption in an entire nation was topped by China (including Hong Kong), with 46.2 billion packages, while Korea ranked seventh with some 3.6 billion.

According to the ministry’s “survey on status of processed food market by category,” instant noodle sales (based on retail sales) in 2013 inched up by 0.6 percent year-on-year to 1.79 billion dollars from 1.78 billion dollars. As of September this year, 1.3 billion dollars of ramyeon were sold.