What are Korea’s favorite snacks and drinks?

Snacks displayed at a supermarket in Seoul. [YONHAP]

Across Korea’s vast bounty of food and drink available for purchase, there are some clear favorites.

Saewookkang, Nongshim’s shrimp flavored chips, lead the rankings as the nation’s favorite cracker snack. In the ice cream department, the World Cone from Lotte came out on top.

Cass beer from Oriental Brewery and Chamisul from Hitejinro came first in the alcohol category, while CJ CheilJedang’s Bibigo dumplings and Jongga kimchi also saw the most sales.

133.3 billion won ($98 million) worth of Saewookkang was sold last year, accounting for 7.01 percent of total snack sales, according to the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation (aT) on Tuesday.

The data comes from market research company MarketLink.

In the snack category, sales for Orion’s Poka Chip placed second with 92.1 billion won and Nongshim Kellog’s Pringles came third with sales of 86.1 billion won. Further down the list were Lotte Wellfood’s Kkokkal Cone with 83.9 billion won, Orion’s squid-flavored peanut balls Ojingeo Ddangkong with 67.6 billion won, Haitai’s peanut crunch snacks Matdongsan with 56.4 billion won, Haitai’s Honey Butter Chips with 46.9 billion won and Orion’s Kkobuk Chips with 46.2 billion won in sales.

For ice cream, Lotte Wellfood’s World Cone came out first with 61.7 billion won in sales. Next on the list came Binggrae’s Samanco with 60.4 billion won, Binggrae’s Together cone with 58.5 billion won, Binggrae’s Melona with 50.5 billion won, Lotte Wellfood’s Bbang Bba Rae with 39.8 billion won and Haitai’s Bravo cone with 37.3 billion won.

In the beer category, Cass, with 1.57 trillion won in sales, was the clear winner. Hitejinro’s Terra with 615.1 billion won, Hitejinro’s FiLite with 239.4 billion won and Lotte Chilsung’s Kloud beer with 222.6 billion won in sales followed.

Hitejinro’s Chamisul was the top competitor for soju, with 1.19 trillion won in sales. Lotte Chilsung’s Chum-Churum, with 355.4 billion won and Hitejinro’s Jinro with 292.9 billion won in sales placed next.

“For processed goods, consumers tend to buy the same product if it suits their tastes, and so the number one product [in the category] usually maintains its popularity,” said a source from the food industry.

BY KIM JI-HYE, KIM JU-YEON [kim.juyeon2@joongang.co.kr]