"Taste of Korea Like Heaven"... Foreigners Praise the 'Magic Brown Sauce'

Last Year’s K-Sauce Exports Reach 510 Billion KRW... Record High
Top Contributor: Samyang Foods’ Buldak Sauce... 16 Billion KRW
Daesang, CJ Focus on Developing Second Buldak Sauce

Before Samyang Foods' Buldak Sauce, there was a 'jang' that opened the horizon of K-sauces overseas. This, which foreigners call the 'magic brown sauce,' is none other than 'ssamjang.' Ssamjang is surprisingly often included in lists of 'Korean foods favored by foreigners' and 'recommended gifts by foreign friends.'

Ssamjang is a sauce made by mixing doenjang and gochujang. Its charm lies in being sweet, salty, savory, and umami-rich. It is curious for Koreans that ssamjang, a traditional fermented food like doenjang or cheonggukjang, is a popular food. However, in reality, Fabian, a French broadcaster, showed his love for ssamjang by presenting bibimbap made with ssamjang, and the British YouTuber "Korean Englishman" praised ssamjang after letting a friend taste it, saying "There must be ssamjang in heaven." This shows that the horizon of K-sauces can expand further.

Rice, green chili peppers, and ssamjang

It is the golden age of K-sauces. As the popularity of K-food in Korean movies and dramas grows day by day, K-sauces are also gaining attention overseas. Last year, exports of K-sauces reached an all-time high. In response, food companies are making various attempts such as changing the formulation of existing products or adjusting sweetness and spiciness to discover products that will follow ssamjang and Buldak Sauce.

According to the Korea Customs Service on the 31st, exports of seasoning sauces and traditional jang products last year amounted to $384 million (about 512.6 billion KRW), an increase of 6.2% from the previous year, marking a record high. Seasoning sauces such as Buldak Sauce and Bulgogi Sauce accounted for $241 million, jang products including gochujang, doenjang, and ssamjang accounted for $111 million, and others such as ketchup and mayonnaise accounted for $32 million.

The number of export countries reached a record high of 139. The country with the highest export volume of Korean sauces was the United States, followed by China and Japan. The Korea Customs Service analyzed, "As Korean popular culture such as music, movies, and dramas gains global popularity, Korean food is also attracting worldwide attention."

Leading the export of K-sauces now is, of course, Samyang Foods' Buldak Sauce. Samyang Foods sells Buldak Sauce in more than 40 countries including the United States and China. Samyang Foods' overseas sales of sauces have been rapidly increasing, from 8.4 billion KRW in 2021 to 11.9 billion KRW in 2022, and 16.1 billion KRW last year.

Buldak Sauce was released as a limited edition in 2017 in response to consumer requests to sell the sauce separately from Buldak Bokkeum Myun (Hot Chicken Flavor Ramen). The original flavor was officially launched in 2018. Since then, Carbonara Buldak Sauce, Nuclear Buldak Sauce, Buldak Sriracha, Buldak Mayo, and Buldak Chipotle Mayo have been released, and it has now established itself as the representative of K-sauces, surpassing gochujang, doenjang, and ssamjang.

As K-sauces gradually grow in size, food companies are focusing on developing products to succeed Buldak Sauce. Daesang, the number one sauce market leader in Korea, has selected sauces as one of its four major global strategic products following kimchi, seaweed, and convenience foods. Overseas, it is expanding its K-sauce lineup under the brand 'O'Food.' O'Food currently exports over 200 types of sauces to more than 20 countries. In addition to traditional jang products like kimchi and gochujang, tteokbokki sauce, O Trouble hot sauce, and K-BBQ sauce are also sold.

CJ CheilJedang included K-sauces among its seven global strategic products in 2021, alongside dumplings, chicken, and kimchi. The main sauces include ▲ traditional Korean jang ▲ convenient cooking sauces including meat marinades, tteokbokki, and chicken sauces ▲ localized sauces. Localized sauces include tube-type gochujang hot sauce and barbecue drizzle. B2B (business-to-business) sales are also increasing. CJ CheilJedang introduced ssamjang in about 80 stores of the UK quick-service restaurant chain Itsu and pork marinade in about 160 stores of the Japanese restaurant chain Wagamama.

Not only food companies but also chicken franchises have supported K-sauce exports. Kyochon Chicken, which is rapidly expanding its overseas territory, launched three types of K1 hot sauces on Amazon US earlier this year. The three K1 hot sauces are 'Red Garlic,' 'Very Berry,' and 'Kimchi Truffle,' using domestically grown Cheongyang chili peppers as the main ingredient. Kyochon Chicken is employing a new strategy by targeting overseas consumers first through Amazon releases, departing from the existing method of expanding sales channels from Korea to overseas.