Pulmuone Leads K-Food Craze in China with Kimbap Export

Pulmuone is pioneering the K-food trend by becoming the first domestic food company to export kimbap to the Chinese market.

On September 12, Pulmuone announced that it had exported frozen tuna kimbap to Sam’s Club, a major Chinese distribution channel. This move is expected to establish kimbap as a representative K-food menu in China, following its success in the United States.

The exported product is a frozen kimbap (Tuna KimBap, Korean tuna kimbap) consisting of three tuna kimbap strips. The package features the phrase “K-Street Food” to emphasize its Korean origin.

Sam’s Club, a warehouse-style mart affiliated with Walmart, operates 49 stores in major Chinese cities such as Shanghai and Shenzhen. Pulmuone plans to export 136,000 bags this month alone as the initial quantity, with an annual target of about 620,000 bags.

A Pulmuone official explained that the company expected the “Kimbap boom” that occurred in the U.S. last year due to short-form video content such as TikTok to continue in China. Kimbap is popular in overseas markets as a cost-effective, easy-to-eat, and healthy meal. In the U.S., kimbap has already become so popular that it has sold out at large supermarkets such as Trader Joe’s.

Pulmuone received support from the Korean Embassy in China and the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation (aT) to carry out local import procedures. The company plans to focus on spreading frozen kimbap and K-food culture in the Chinese market through Sam’s Club.

Pulmuone, which has previously successfully established Korean noodle products such as tofu and pasta in the Chinese market, plans to expand its product line of Korean rice products through this kimbap export.

Yoon Sung-won, head of marketing headquarters for Pulmuone China, stated, “Based on our sales performance at Sam’s Club, we will expand into more diverse distribution channels and solidify our leading position in K-street food in the Chinese market.”