South Korea's food exports to the United States are expected to reach $1 billion for the first time this year owing to their brisk advances into ethnic markets, the Korea Agro-fisheries and Food Trade Corp.'s branch here said Monday.

"Korean agro-fishery and food products, called K-Food, which have been mainly consumed by Korean residents in the US, are making aggressive inroads into the Chinese, Hispanic and Filipino markets," branch head Lee Joo-pyo said.

Most notable among the top 30 export items are ramyeon, ginseng, mixed seasonings and gochujang, or red pepper paste, he said.

Ramyeon posted $6.84 million during the first two months this year, up 14.3 percent on-year; ginseng $3.30 million, up 67 percent; gochujang $1.80 million, up 60.5 percent; and mixed seasonings $1.37 million, up 60.5 percent, according to him.

"The favorable exports of such items are attributable to success in entering ethnic markets with tastes similar to Koreans," he said.

Ethnic markets are markets supplying minority populations with specialized foodstuffs. The ethnic Chinese market is the largest with a population of 5 million, he said.

Last year, $9.57 million worth of K-Food products were exported to the US. (Yonhap)