Kimchi: No Longer Solely Korea’s

Kimchi (김치) is a traditional Korean dish made from fermented cabbage, radish, or cucumber. It is often categorized by the main vegetable ingredient used to make it. 

Kimchi is a staple food in Korean cuisine. It's an accompaniment to almost every meal in Korea, usually as a side-dish (banchan). It is said to be consumed daily by 95 percent of Koreans – 2 million tons annually.  

The most popular kimchi includes baechu kimchi (made with napa cabbage, 배추김치), kkakdugi (made with radish, 깍두기), and oi kimchi (made with cucumber, 오이김치). 

The "Korean Wave" (Hallyu, 한류) has made Korean cultural exports popular all over the world. Everything from K-pop to K-dramas and more. Including Korean food that has become familiar to us such as bibimbap, bulgogi, jjigae, tteokbokki, kan poong gi, and yes, kimchi.

As the home of kimchi, South Korea dominates global exports. In fact, global demand for Korean kimchi continues to grow, with exports on track to hit an all-time high in 2025. 

According to trade data released on November 24 by the Korea Customs Service, South Korea’s cumulative kimchi exports in 2025 reached $137.4 million as at October, up 2 percent from a year earlier.

And yet, kimchi’s place as a uniquely Korean dish is being threatened by China’s exploding exports of the spicy dish. Especially, to South Korea itself. 

The fact is, more South Koreans are consuming Chinese-made kimchi, making it very likely that South Korea will post a kimchi trade deficit. Persistent inflation and the 2024 surge in domestic cabbage prices, caused by extreme weather, have continued to push demand for cheaper Chinese-made kimchi. 

Imports of Chinese kimchi hit a record $189.86 million in 2024, up 16.1 percent from 2023. During the same 10-month period, imports amounted to $159.46 million, rising 3.1 percent and outpacing the 2 percent growth in exports. 

As a result, the kimchi trade balance so far in 2025 remains in the red, with the deficit widening 10.3 percent from a year ago to $22.07 million. 

In the meantime, shipments of Korean-made kimchi are expected to hit another record in 2025, surpassing 2024’s all-time high. Exports totalled $163.57 million in 2024, double the figure from 2017, and have steadily grown on the back of rising global interest in K-food and heightened health awareness during the Covid pandemic. They reached $148.12 million in 2022, $155.6 million in 2023, and then set a new record in 2024. 

Japan remains the largest market for Korean kimchi, importing $47.55 million worth as at October, a 4.4 percent increase from a year earlier. The United States brought in $36.01 million, a 5.8 percent decrease, which marks a notable shift for a market that had seen rapid growth since 2019. In Europe, the Netherlands imported $7.97 million, a 3.3 percent decline. Canada imported $7.63 million, up 17.6 percent, while Australia saw a slight increase to $6.68 million. 

Indeed, the world may be eating more Korean kimchi but South Korea is importing more of it from China!

World No. 7 Sivasangari Subramaniam saw her hopes of retaining the HKFC Squash Open title dashed yesterday after falling to world No. 11 Fayrouz Aboelkheir of Egypt in the final. 

The top seed was beaten 11-6, 11-9, 7-11, 11-4 in just 36 minutes – her second defeat to Fayrouz in four meetings. 

Sivasangari will now aim to bounce back at next week's Hong Kong Open.