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Nongshim's market cap spikes $136M in two weeks

Published: 25 Mar. 2025, 17:21 Updated: 25 Mar. 2025, 19:01

KIM JU-YEON
[email protected]

Singer Jennie shows off Nongshim's Banana Kick snack on the Jennifer Hudson Show in an episode that aired on March 10. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Nongshim’s market cap jumped by around 200 billion won ($136 million) over the last two weeks as investor sentiment rose with the company's recent price hikes as well as its corporate value enhancement plan announced on Friday.

The Shin Ramyun maker’s market cap, valued at around 2.33 trillion won on March 10, ballooned to 2.59 trillion won on Friday. The firm’s shares rose four consecutive days from March 14 to 18, reaching 428,500 won. Its market cap dipped to 2.51 trillion won on Tuesday, with stocks ending at 412,500 won, down 2.02 percent from the previous session.

Nongshim raised the prices of 17 products by an average of 7.2 percent on March 17, citing an increase in ingredient costs and unfavorable currency exchange rates. The price hikes, the firm’s first in two years, were levied on popular instant noodle items such as Shin Ramyun, Neoguri and Chapagetti as well as snacks like Saeukkang.

The firm also shared its goal of increasing global sales and making changes to its low-profit businesses and channels at its general shareholder meeting on Friday. Stakeholders criticized Nongshim’s low market cap while comparing it to rival instant noodle manufacturer Samyang Foods; the Buldak maker’s market cap is almost triple that of Nongshim’s.

Nongshim Chairman Shin Dong-won said the firm will “strive to increase shareholder value” after the meeting ended.

Improved profitability from the price hikes will show from the second quarter, which will lead to better operating profit this year, NH Investment & Securities analyst Joo Young-hoon said.

By happenstance, the manufacturer's products got 15 minutes of fame in the United States after Blackpink's Jennie introduced some Nongshim snacks as her favorite Korean treats on a U.S. daytime show.

The singer described the brand's Banana Kick, sweet banana-flavored corn puffs, as her favorite, possessing a banana flavor “in a way you wouldn’t expect a banana to taste.” She also brought Nongshim’s Saeukkang, or shrimp-flavored crackers, and Orion’s Goraebap onto the show.

After the episode aired on March 10, the snack-eating clip made the rounds on social media before a video from the official Jennifer Hudson Show channel hit YouTube on March 18.

"It wasn’t sponsored,” a Nongshim spokesperson told the Korea JoongAng Daily, adding that the Blackpink singer “very fortunately” brought Banana Kick to the Jennifer Hudson Show on her own accord, a move that may impart a "celebrity effect" on the brand thanks to Jennie's undeniable marketability on the back of her star power.

BY KIM JU-YEON [[email protected]]