Korea's Kimchi Exports Hit a Record While Its Import Deficit Widens
South Korean kimchi exports are on track to top 2024's record $163.6 million, yet the country runs a $22 million kimchi trade deficit as cheaper Chinese imports supply its own food service.
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.
Two data points define the state of Korean kimchi in 2026, and they pull in opposite directions. Exports are setting records. The trade balance is in deficit. The category is winning abroad as a branded premium good while losing the domestic price war to imports — and both outcomes trace to the same input cost.
The trade balance, decomposed
Run the two flows side by side. Over the first 10 months of 2025, Korea exported $137.39 million of kimchi but imported $159.46 million — up 3.1 percent — for a deficit of $22.07 million, 10.3 percent wider than a year earlier. Nearly all incoming volume is Chinese; in 2024, 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 |
The export line is genuinely strong
The outbound side merits the headlines. In the first 10 months of 2025, overseas sales reached $137.39 million, up 2 percent year-on-year, putting the full year on track to clear the 2024 record of $163.57 million, The Korea Herald reported. That 2024 benchmark was itself a peak — 47,100 tons to 95 countries, up 6.9 percent by volume, according to The Korea Herald. Japan leads as a buyer at $47.55 million (up 4.4 percent), the United States is second at $36.01 million, and Canada is the standout growth market, up 17.6 percent.
Seoul is leaning 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.
The cost driver: cabbage
The deficit resolves to a single variable — price, and specifically the price of napa cabbage. Harvests have been hit by climate-driven heat waves, and the agriculture ministry has acknowledged "a disruption in cabbage supplies due to climate change and higher shipping costs," The Korea Herald noted. When domestic cabbage spikes, volume kimchi production stops penciling out.
The result is a clean market split. Cafeterias, low-cost restaurants and food manufacturers source cheaper Chinese kimchi for everyday use. The premium, hand-packed jars ship abroad as a cultural luxury; the banchan on a 9,000-won lunch tray is quietly imported. It is the standard pattern once a food category globalizes — the flagship travels, the commodity backfills.
What it means for the K-food narrative
None of this undercuts kimchi's soft-power story; it arguably confirms it. Demand is structural enough that the home market can no longer be supplied domestically. But it is a necessary correction to the triumphant export framing. A record export year and a widening import deficit are not in tension — they are two readings 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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