KOREAN NET

A foreign tourist on March 18 eats instant noodles at Ramyun (Instant Noodles) Library of the Hongdae Sangsang branch of the convenience store chain CU in Seoul's Mapo-gu District. (Hong Angie)

By Kim Seon Ah

Agricultural and food exports this year from January to last month tentatively rose 8.7% year on year to a record-high USD 8.19 billion, the 14th consecutive month of growth, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said on Nov. 5.

By item, the export of processed rice products such as frozen gimbap (seaweed rice rolls), instant rice and tteokbokki (spicy rice cake) rose 41.9% from the same period last year to USD 250 million.

The U.S., the largest market for this category, saw exports skyrocket 55.9%. Shipments of frozen gimbap to China began in September, thus raising the figure for this market 40.2%.

Exports of ramyeon (instant noodles), the item with the highest share of food shipments abroad, last month broke the USD 1 billion mark with USD 120 million. They continued growing in their top market of China as well as in the U.S. and Europe, and those to Central and South America rose 70.9%.

Shipments of fresh foods inched up 0.5% led by kimchi, citron and grapes. Those of citron began rising last month thanks to steady growth in new markets such as Canada and the Philippines.

By market, agricultural and food exports to both the U.S. and Europe grew over 20%, with those to China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations seeing a steady rise.

sofiakim218@korea.kr