Nongshim Co., South Korea's leading instant noodle maker, said Thursday it will raise the prices of its instant noodle and snack products next week due to higher raw materials costs.
Nongshim plans to raise the retail prices of 14 "ramyeon" products by 7.2 percent and three snack products by 7.4 percent starting March 17, the company said in a press release.
In particular, the price of Shin Ramyun, which represents Nongshim's ramyeon products, will rise to 1,000 won ($0.69) from 950 won, while that of Saeukkang is set to rise to 1,500 won from 1,400 won, it said.
"The price hike is inevitable to reflect the won's weakness (against the dollar) and rising raw materials prices," a company spokesperson said.
A weak won drives up the purchasing cost of raw materials such as palm oil and starch largely imported from overseas.
Nongshim said it is reversing the prices of Shin Ramyun and Saeukkang exactly to the levels seen before July 2023, when the company was forced to lower the two products' prices under government pressure to reflect a decline in grain prices.
It has six domestic plants and six overseas ones -- two in the US and four in China. It sells instant noodle products represented by its flagship Shin Ramyun, Chapagetti and Neoguri noodles in global markets.
For all of 2024, Nongshim's net profit fell 8.1 percent on-year to 157.63 billion won partly due to higher costs.
Operating profit dipped 23 percent on-year to 163.07 billion won last year, while sales rose 0.8 percent to 3.44 trillion won.
Nongshim earned about 70 percent of the overall sales from ramyeon sales in global markets. (Yonhap)
