Korea Sells the World More Kimchi Than Ever — and Quietly Buys More From China
South Korean kimchi exports are on track to top 2024's record $163.6 million, yet the country is running a kimchi trade deficit of $22 million as cheap Chinese imports flood its own restaurants.
TL;DR — Korean kimchi is a global hit (exports headed for a fresh record above $163.6M), but a $22M trade deficit shows the country is importing more cheap Chinese kimchi than it ships out.
Here's a sentence that would have sounded absurd a decade ago: South Korea, the spiritual home of kimchi, now buys more of it from abroad than it sells. Both things are true at once, and that contradiction is the most honest snapshot of where Korean food sits in 2026 — globally adored, locally squeezed on price.
The export story is genuinely good
Let's give the win its due. Korean kimchi exports keep climbing. In the first 10 months of 2025 overseas sales reached $137.39 million, up 2 percent year-on-year, and at that pace the full year is set to clear the previous record of $163.57 million set in 2024, The Korea Herald reported. That 2024 figure itself was a high-water mark: 47,100 tons shipped to 95 countries, up 6.9 percent in volume, according to The Korea Herald.
Japan is still the biggest buyer at $47.55 million (up 4.4 percent), with the United States second at $36.01 million. The growth markets are the interesting ones — Canada jumped 17.6 percent.
The official line leans into the brand. "We will work to develop the kimchi industry into a future-oriented export sector and help solidify kimchi's place as a global food brand," Agriculture Minister Song Mi-ryung said, per The Korea Herald.
Now the part nobody puts on a press release
While Korea exported $137 million of kimchi, it imported $159.46 million of it over the same 10 months — up 3.1 percent — producing a kimchi trade deficit of $22.07 million, 10.3 percent wider than a year earlier. Almost all of that incoming kimchi is Chinese. In 2024 alone, imports from China hit a record $189.86 million, up 16.1 percent.
| Kimchi trade, Jan–Oct 2025 | Value |
|---|---|
| Exports (global) | $137.39M |
| Imports (mostly China) | $159.46M |
| Deficit | –$22.07M |
Why your bibimbap is fighting a cabbage problem
The driver is brutally simple: price. Napa cabbage harvests have been battered by climate-driven heat waves, and the agriculture ministry has openly acknowledged "a disruption in cabbage supplies due to climate change and higher shipping costs," The Korea Herald noted. When domestic cabbage spikes, the maths gets ugly for anyone making kimchi at volume.
So Korea's cafeterias, cheap restaurants and food manufacturers increasingly reach for Chinese kimchi, which can land at a fraction of the cost. The premium, hand-packed jars get exported as a luxury cultural product; the everyday banchan on a 9,000-won lunch tray is quietly imported. It's the same split you see in a lot of food categories once they go global — the flagship travels, the commodity backfills.
What this means for the "K-food" boom
None of this dents kimchi's soft-power story. If anything it confirms it: demand is so structural that even the home market can't be fed domestically. But it's a useful reality check on the triumphant export headlines. A record export year and a widening import deficit are not contradictions — they're two sides of a category that has outgrown its own backyard.
FAQ
Is Korea really importing more kimchi than it exports?
By value, yes. In the first 10 months of 2025 Korea imported $159.46 million of kimchi (almost all from China) versus $137.39 million exported, a deficit of about $22 million.
Why is so much kimchi imported from China?
Price. Chinese kimchi is far cheaper, and Korean napa-cabbage harvests have been hit by climate-driven heat and supply disruptions, pushing restaurants and food makers toward cheaper imports for everyday use.
Are Korean kimchi exports still growing?
Yes. 2024 set a record at $163.6 million and 47,100 tons across 95 countries, and 2025 was on pace to beat it, led by Japan, the US and fast-growing Canada.
Sources: Korea Herald — kimchi exports vs China imports, Korea Herald — 2024 export record, The Korea Times.
Image: Madison Scott-Clary, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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