Nongshim doubles down in Rancho Cucamonga to be No. 1 in U.S.

Nongshim CEO Shin Dong-won looks visits the company's second U.S. plant in Rancho Cucamonga, California. [NONGSHIM]

Nongshim wants to be No. 1 in the United States and has built a new plant to achieve its goal.

Its second factory in Rancho Cucamonga, California has been completed and began churning out ramyeon on April 29.

"The second U.S. plant will help Nongshim target the global market even faster," said Nongshim CEO Shin Dong-won at the ceremony to celebrate the completion, also on April 29. "We will work hard to beat Japan and become the leading company in the U.S. market and strive to become the number one ramyeon maker in the world."

According to Euromonitor, Japan's Toyo Suisan Kaisha has 49 percent of the U.S. "instant noodle" market, Nongshim had 23.3 percent and Japan's Nissin 17.9 percent.

Nongshim logged sales of $395 million in the United States last year, and it aims to reach sales of $800 in 2025.

"If supply increases due to the operation of the second U.S. plant, we believe we can take the top spot within few years," said a spokesperson for Nongshim in discussing the U.S. market.

The Rancho Cucamonga plant comes 17 years after its first U.S. plant was built. It is built on a 26,800 square meter (288,470 square foot) site, and will be able to make 350 million packs of ramyeon a year.

Combined with the annual production capacity of the existing plant, Nongshim will be able to produce 850 million packs a year in the United States.

The company also has high hopes that the plant will help business in Mexico. The country has a ramyeon market worth $400 million, but is dominated mostly by Japanese companies.

"We think it will be relatively easy to gain a presence in the Mexican market because the country consumes a lot of pepper and most of the population are spice lovers," said the Nongshim spokesperson.

The company plans to release new products that can satisfy Mexican tastes, hoping to become one of the country's top three ramyeon makers within five years.

BY LEE TAE-HEE [lee.taehee2@joongang.co.kr]