Kimchi export value from South Korea 2011-2022

South Korea exported around 140.82 million U.S. dollars worth of Kimchi in 2022, decreased from around 159.92 million U.S. dollars in the previous year. Thanks to its growing popularity, Kimchi exports from South Korea have steadily increased in recent years. Particularly, Japan and the U.S. were the leading destinations of Kimchi exports from South Korea.

Growth of Kimchi sales

Exports of Kimchi have grown for the past several years, reaching a ten-year peak of close to 160 million dollars in value and over 42 thousand tons in volume in 2021. This is more than twice the value of Kimchi exports in 2015, and exports are increasing despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, reaching a year-on-year growth of around 63 percent in April 2020. Some reasons for the popularity of Kimchi is the popularity of K-pop and other Korean media, and Kimchi’s reputation as a nutritious and fat-free food. The latter might be of particular interest to foreigners amid the ongoing global pandemic.

South Korean Kimchi market

Kimchi is a traditional Korean side dish of salted and fermented vegetables; typically cabbages or Korean radishes. Kimchi accompanies many dishes as a ubiquitous side dish and is included in other traditional Korean dishes. In 2019, the market for Kimchi in Korea reached around 1.45 trillion South Korean won. Daesang was the leading Korean manufacturer as the maker of the best-selling Jongga Kimchi brand. CJ came in second with its Bibigo and Haseonjeong brands. These top two companies dominate the domestic market.