Samyang Foods Completes Plant Expansion Amid Growing Demand For Buldak Spicy Ramyeon

SEOUL, June 11 (Bernama-Yonhap) -- Samyang Foods Inc., known for its globally popular Buldak spicy ramyeon, said on Wednesday it has completed a plant expansion to meet rising global demand for its signature product, Yonhap News Agency reported.

The company said it has constructed a second production facility adjacent to its existing plant in Milyang, some 280 kilometres (km) southeast of Seoul.

Samyang operates two other domestic plants in Wonju and Iksan, located 85 km southeast and 180 km south of the capital, respectively.

The new Milyang plant, equipped with a smart factory system, will serve as Samyang's global manufacturing hub to meet surging demand in the United States (US) and Europe and to better address evolving customer needs, the company said in a press release.

In her speech at the completion ceremony, Samyang Foods Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Kim Jung-soo said that as the creamy, spicy Carbo Buldak is currently the brand's most beloved product, the company will continue to explore and diversify the spicy flavour category to become the definitive "bible of spiciness."

"We aim to make the Buldak brand a cultural icon. Over the past decade, content focused on eating more, faster and spicier has taken the lead. Going forward, we want to become a platform for content that is more enjoyable and entertaining," she said.

The new facility adds an annual production capacity of 830 million Buldak ramyeon units, bringing the company's total Buldak output across its four plants to 2.9 billion units per year.

In addition to its domestic facilities, Samyang plans to begin construction of its first overseas plant in China next month. The company currently has operations in China, Japan, Indonesia, the Netherlands and the US.

Last year, Samyang's sales surged 45 per cent to 1.73 trillion won (US$1.26 billion) from 1.19 trillion won a year earlier, driven by robust sales of its Buldak ramyeon series, particularly in the US and China. Its exports also exceeded 1 trillion won for the first time in its history in 2024.

Since its launch in 2012, cumulative sales of the hot chicken-flavoured instant noodles have surpassed 7 billion units, generating more than 4 trillion won in revenue.

Buldak ramyeon gained worldwide attention after its extreme spiciness sparked a viral food-eating challenge in 2014.

-- BERNAMA-YONHAP