The global spread of Korean pop culture continues to drive unprecedented overseas demand for K-food products, with items like instant ramen, frozen gimbap, and seasoned laver leading the charge.
According to data released by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) on May 29 detailing the 2025 domestic food industry production results, South Korea’s total food exports reached $7.86318 billion last year, marking an 8.3% increase from the previous year.
Instant ramen (fried noodles) firmly established itself as the flagship K-food export, with overseas sales jumping 26.5% year-over-year to reach $1.50105 billion. Ready-to-eat products and other convenience foods closely followed, pulling in $776.06 million, while seasoned laver generated $562.39 million. Within the convenience food sector, frozen gimbap recorded an explosive export growth rate of 180.9% compared to the previous year. Seasoned laver also saw a steady 12.8% year-over-year increase, maintaining its position as one of the country's premier processed seafood exports.
Health Functional Foods Track Global and Domestic Booms
Expanding alongside the broader expansion of K-food and K-beauty, South Korean health functional foods also enjoyed robust export growth. Overseas shipments of these health supplements climbed to $318.17 million, a 14.2% increase from the $278.64 million recorded the previous year. Vitamins and minerals led the sector at $81.77 million, followed by oils containing EPA and DHA at $56.23 million, and probiotics at $50.63 million. Together, these three categories represented approximately 60% of the total health supplement export volume.
Simultaneously, domestic demand for health functional foods experienced a steady upward trajectory. Total domestic production of health supplements reached 2.8230 trillion won last year, up 2.2% from twelve months prior. Notably, the production of vitamin and mineral products—such as vitamin D and magnesium supplements—surged 16.3% year-over-year to hit 635.1 billion won, representing the strongest performance within the domestic sector.
This surge propelled vitamin and mineral products to the number-one spot in domestic sales statistics for the first time in history, officially overtaking traditional red ginseng. In contrast, domestic production volumes for red ginseng, probiotics, and specialized mixed extracts like HemoHIM and angelica all experienced declines over the same period.
