Rice noodle franchise Phomein's headquarters Daily King has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the food distribution corporations MJ Food to expand the domestic market share of rice noodles and to facilitate overseas exports.
With this MOU, Daily King will have MJ Food exclusively distribute rice noodles produced domestically in the future, collaborating to replace imported products and facilitate overseas exports.
When Phomein was launched in 2006, South Korea had no domestic producers of rice noodles, leaving imported Thai rice noodles as the only option. Additionally, when overseas supply was disrupted, the company faced significant operational challenges. Daily King CEO Kim Dae-il said, "To escape reliance on imported rice noodles and provide consumers with healthy meals made from fresh rice, we established a local factory in Vietnam called Four Seasons in 2015," adding, "As a result, our company has become the first and only corporation in the domestic industry to possess both the technology for and a manufacturing plant for producing rice noodles."
MJ Food CEO Kim Mi-jung noted, "In the past, Daily King supplied imported rice noodles as our client, but since 2015, they shifted their business direction to in-house production, causing our transaction to be suspended. I am very pleased that this company has returned as a partner that has successfully expanded its influence beyond market limitations through domestication."
According to the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA), in 2023, the total export of Thai rice noodles worldwide reached 88,868 tons, approximately 90,000 tons. Among them, the United States consumed the most at 14,578 tons (16.40%), followed by Malaysia, Japan, and Canada, with South Korea as the fifth largest consumer importing 5,589 tons (6.29%). The global market research firm Data Bridge Market Research analyzed that the global rice noodle industry market size will reach $5.1 billion (approximately 74.19 trillion won) by 2029, and projected that future government policies, support, and regulations will drive the future market.