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Savoury Snacks in South Korea
Savoury Snacks in South Korea
Euromonitor International
July 2021
SAVOURY SNACKS IN SOUTH KOREA Passport i
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SAVOURY SNACKS IN SOUTH KOREA Passport 1
2021 DEVELOPMENTS
Consumers are looking for sweet flavours in the fight against the
“Corona blues”
Grappling with the anxiety and depression associated with the prolonged COVID-19
pandemic, Korean consumers are looking for sweet flavours in savoury snacks to improve their
mood and lower stress. In this sense, Orion Corp added a chocolate churro flavour extension for
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its Turtle Chip brand, and it gained massive traction soon after its release in September 2020.
After the product became widespread online and sales exploded, many different retailers even
reported being sold out of the product. Indeed, this product was the biggest hit of savoury
snacks in the second half of 2020.
Following this trend, a sweet corn flavour is becoming widely adopted in puffed snacks. For
example, Nong Shim Kellogg Co launched Oksusukang in late 2020, an extension of its 50-
year-old Kang brand, which successfully embodied the flavour and shape of sweet corn. Lotte
Confectionery also joined in on the sweet corn fad among millennials and generation Z by
launching a Korean corn flavour for its leading brand Kokalcorn.
In this sense, vegetable, pulse and bread chips were not as aligned to consumers
preferences during the pandemic. Indeed, snacks based on natural ingredients and minimal
processing continued to lose popularity due to their lower levels of palatability as more and more
consumers were drawn to strong and addictive tastes during the pandemic. However, in 2021,
vegetable, pulse and bread chips is set to return to positive current value growth, showing a
possible gradual deterioration of the sweet flavour trend in savoury snacks.
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Noodle snacks
Seaweed snacks
Source: Euromonitor International from official statistics, trade associations, trade press, company research,
store checks, trade interviews, trade sources
CATEGORY DATA
Table 1 Sales of Savoury Snacks by Category: Volume 2016-2021
'000 tonnes
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
Nuts, Seeds and Trail 33.4 32.1 31.3 26.0 27.8 29.4
Mixes
Salty Snacks 95.7 96.0 96.7 95.7 103.2 106.9
- Potato Chips 15.5 15.2 13.8 13.7 15.3 15.9
- Tortilla Chips 4.0 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.7 5.0
- Puffed Snacks 69.1 69.4 71.5 70.5 75.6 78.2
- Rice Snacks 6.6 6.7 6.8 6.8 7.2 7.3
- Vegetable, Pulse and 0.5 0.5 0.6 0.5 0.5 0.5
Bread Chips
Savoury Biscuits 11.0 11.6 11.9 11.3 12.1 12.4
Popcorn 5.9 6.3 6.5 6.7 8.0 9.1
Pretzels 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 1.1
Other Savoury Snacks 4.6 5.2 5.7 6.0 6.5 6.8
Savoury Snacks 151.3 151.8 152.9 146.6 158.7 165.7
Source: Euromonitor International from official statistics, trade associations, trade press, company research,
store checks, trade interviews, trade sources
KRW billion
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
Nuts, Seeds and Trail 405.8 397.7 393.7 332.7 350.0 364.0
Mixes
Salty Snacks 1,450.2 1,472.2 1,500.4 1,492.4 1,605.0 1,674.2
- Potato Chips 332.3 329.2 299.6 300.8 335.9 352.1
- Tortilla Chips 34.2 34.9 35.6 36.2 40.7 43.4
- Puffed Snacks 994.4 1,017.8 1,073.8 1,065.2 1,136.5 1,184.3
- Rice Snacks 72.6 73.0 73.4 73.7 77.0 79.0
- Vegetable, Pulse and 16.8 17.3 18.0 16.6 14.7 15.4
Bread Chips
Savoury Biscuits 92.2 97.3 101.9 97.7 103.8 107.6
Popcorn 86.0 93.7 96.5 99.0 117.5 132.3
Pretzels 7.3 9.3 10.9 12.0 14.1 15.8
Other Savoury Snacks 35.1 40.4 44.8 47.3 51.9 54.5
Savoury Snacks 2,076.7 2,110.6 2,148.3 2,081.0 2,242.2 2,348.3
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Source: Euromonitor International from official statistics, trade associations, trade press, company research,
store checks, trade interviews, trade sources
% volume growth
2020/21 2016-21 CAGR 2016/21 Total
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'000 tonnes
2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026
Nuts, Seeds and Trail 29.4 30.0 30.3 30.6 31.0 31.4
Mixes
Salty Snacks 106.9 107.8 103.4 101.3 99.5 98.0
- Potato Chips 15.9 16.1 15.5 15.3 15.2 15.1
- Tortilla Chips 5.0 5.1 4.9 4.8 4.7 4.6
- Puffed Snacks 78.2 78.9 75.3 73.6 72.1 70.8
- Rice Snacks 7.3 7.3 7.2 7.1 7.0 7.0
- Vegetable, Pulse and 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5
Bread Chips
Savoury Biscuits 12.4 12.5 12.1 11.8 11.6 11.5
Popcorn 9.1 9.8 9.1 8.6 8.4 8.3
Pretzels 1.1 1.2 1.2 1.3 1.3 1.3
Other Savoury Snacks 6.8 7.0 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3
Savoury Snacks 165.7 168.4 163.1 160.6 159.0 157.9
Source: Euromonitor International from trade associations, trade press, company research, trade interviews,
trade sources
KRW billion
2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026
Nuts, Seeds and Trail 364.0 368.7 374.3 381.8 390.5 400.3
Mixes
Salty Snacks 1,674.2 1,700.1 1,638.8 1,610.8 1,588.0 1,568.8
- Potato Chips 352.1 358.0 347.3 343.8 341.4 339.7
- Tortilla Chips 43.4 44.6 43.1 42.1 41.4 40.8
- Puffed Snacks 1,184.3 1,202.0 1,154.0 1,130.9 1,111.7 1,095.0
- Rice Snacks 79.0 79.6 78.2 77.5 76.8 76.4
- Vegetable, Pulse and 15.4 15.9 16.2 16.5 16.7 16.9
Bread Chips
Savoury Biscuits 107.6 108.9 105.6 103.5 102.5 101.7
Popcorn 132.3 142.8 132.8 126.2 122.4 121.2
Pretzels 15.8 16.8 17.2 17.7 18.3 18.9
Other Savoury Snacks 54.5 56.5 57.2 58.0 59.0 60.2
Savoury Snacks 2,348.3 2,393.8 2,325.9 2,298.0 2,280.8 2,271.2
Source: Euromonitor International from trade associations, trade press, company research, trade interviews,
trade sources
% volume growth
2021/22 2021-26 CAGR 2021/26 Total
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