Samyang post record sales on China's Singles Day

Samyang Foods advertisement for China's Singles Day shopping festival (Samyang Foods)

South Korean food manufacturer Samyang Foods said Thursday it posted new record sales of 13 billion won ($10 million) on this year’s Singles Day, a Chinese shopping festival celebrated every year on Nov. 11.

The figure is a jump of 39 percent from a year ago, beating the previous record high of 11 billion won in 2021.

Of the total earnings, 8 billion won came through e-commerce giants Alibaba and JD, while short-video platforms Douyin -- China’s version of TikTok -- and Kuaishou as well as online group-buying platform Pinduoduo drew the rest of the sales.

Samyang attributed the upbeat sales to its bestselling Buldak Spicy Chicken Ramen series and Chacharoni, its black bean sauce noodle brand.

During the shopping fest, it also introduced a limited-edition Buldak variety of South Korean sweet and spicy marinated fried chicken, or “yangnyeom chicken.” All 2,000 boxes of the new Buldak variety sold out much earlier than expected, the company said.

“While China’s consumption recovery is still underway, we were able to bear a fruitful result this year with the expanded sales channels,” said a Samyang Foods official. “Through our Chinese sales subsidiary in Shanghai, we plan to target the local market in line with the growing live commerce industry.”