Samyang Foods Continues 'Buldak Legend'... Groundbreaking of Miryang Plant 2

Completion in the first half of next year... Annual production capacity of 560 million ramen
Vice Chairman Kim Jeong-su: "We will establish the stature of a global food company"

Since completing the Miryang Plant 1 in 2022 as an export forward base, Samyang Foods has started construction of Plant 2 in less than two years. Having achieved its highest-ever performance with sales exceeding 1 trillion KRW last year, Samyang Foods plans to strengthen its position as the largest exporter of K-ramen and leap forward as a global leading food company by expanding its production facilities.

Kim Jung-su, Vice Chairman of Samyang Round Square, is giving a greeting speech at the groundbreaking ceremony of the Miryang Plant 2 held on the 6th at the Nano Convergence National Industrial Complex in Bubuk-myeon, Miryang-si, Gyeongnam.

According to industry sources on the 6th, Samyang Foods held a groundbreaking ceremony for Miryang Plant 2 at the Nano Convergence National Industrial Complex in Bubuk-myeon, Miryang-si, Gyeongsangnam-do. This follows the investment agreement signed with Gyeongsangnam-do in September last year and comes two years after the completion of Miryang Plant 1 in May 2022.

Samyang Foods is investing a total of 164.3 billion KRW in the construction of Miryang Plant 2. The plant will have a total floor area of 34,576㎡, with three above-ground floors and one basement level, and will house five ramen production lines. Additionally, it plans to establish a more advanced smart factory system than Miryang Plant 1 and implement a world-class food safety system. The annual maximum ramen production capacity of Miryang Plant 2 is planned to be 560 million units. If completed as scheduled in the first half of next year, Samyang Foods’ annual maximum ramen production will increase by more than 30%, from the current 1.8 billion units (Wonju, Iksan, Miryang Plant 1) to approximately 2.4 billion units.

Samyang Foods intends to use Miryang Plant 2 as a forward base targeting the North American market after completion, while Miryang Plant 1 will focus on expanding export volume based on the Chinese market. Vice Chairman Kim Jung-soo said, “As we leap forward as a global major food company, we decided to establish Miryang Plant 2 to more actively pioneer export markets. If Miryang Plants 1 and 2 simultaneously produce export volumes, we will strengthen our competitive edge and establish our stature as a global major food company.”

With the groundbreaking of Miryang Plant 2, Samyang Foods is expected to accelerate its overseas business efforts. Last year, Samyang Foods’ sales grew by 31% year-on-year to 1.1929 trillion KRW, and operating profit increased by 62% to 146.8 billion KRW, achieving its best performance ever. This is the first time in the company’s history that sales exceeded 1 trillion KRW and operating profit surpassed 100 billion KRW.

The driving force behind this performance was undoubtedly overseas sales led by ‘Buldak Bokkeummyeon’ (Hot Chicken Flavor Ramen). Since its launch in 2012, emphasizing a much spicier taste than existing ramen, Buldak Bokkeummyeon has gained popularity through various online challenge videos, generating greater response overseas as well as domestically, creating continuous demand. When Buldak Bokkeummyeon was first released in 2012, Samyang Foods’ export ratio was only about 6.7% of total sales. However, exports began to gain momentum, rising to 25.9% in 2016, surpassing half in 2019, and estimated to have reached 70% last year.

Samyang Foods' overseas market exclusive brand 'Tangle' Bulgogi Alfredo Tangluchini

With the foundation for additional production established by the new plant’s groundbreaking, Samyang Foods is expected to focus on expanding store entries through active market development this year. Currently, Samyang Foods produces all export volumes domestically without overseas production plants and is accelerating market penetration by establishing local sales corporations. Starting with Japan in 2019, it established corporations in the United States and China in 2021, and added one in Indonesia last year.

In particular, this year, the company is expected to focus on visible achievements of new brands supporting Buldak Bokkeummyeon. Previously, in June last year, Samyang Foods launched ‘Tangle,’ a dry noodle brand exclusively for overseas markets, and introduced it to the Japanese market last month at the ‘Supermarket Trade Show,’ Japan’s largest food and distribution trade exhibition. Tangle recently began sales at over 500 Japanese supermarket chain stores, including Aeon and Seiyu. Samyang Foods plans to expand its market share this year through tailored new product launches and diversification of distribution channels such as convenience stores.

However, a challenge is noted in that there is limited additional production capacity, as the operating rate of existing plants has been raised to about 90% to meet the rapidly increasing export demand. Kim Tae-hyun, a researcher at IBK Investment & Securities, evaluated, “Even assuming line efficiency improvements, there is little remaining additional production capacity, so performance growth this year may be somewhat limited.” However, he added, “With the completion of Miryang Plant 2 next year, production capacity will increase, and by expanding sales channels to Canada, Mexico, and others, we expect to show high external growth exceeding 30% again.”

Meanwhile, last year’s ramen export value reached a record high of 952.4 million USD (approximately 1.27 trillion KRW). Ramen export value, which was about 467 million USD in 2019, increased to 603.57 million USD the following year and continued high growth, nearly doubling in four years. Including products manufactured overseas, the actual market size of Korean ramen is even larger than the export value. According to the Korea Customs Service, exports in January this year amounted to 85.74 million USD (about 115 billion KRW), up 39.4% from the same period last year (61.51 million USD), maintaining a positive trend.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.