Snacks in 2025: The big picture
Retail volume sales of snacks in South Korea continued to grow in 2025, but the pace of expansion has slowed compared to 2024. This is amid further price hikes across major categories, driven in part by rising input costs such as cocoa. While the headline figures suggest modest growth, the local market is undergoing a structural shift in how and why consumers engage with snacks.
Key trends in 2025
In 2023 and 2024, the emergence of ‘zero’ snack products that reduce or eliminated sugar while maintaining flavour introduced a new paradigm to snacks in South Korea. This marked the beginning of a broader movement towards health-conscious consumption, which has continued to gain traction in 2025. Consumers across all age groups are now placing greater emphasis on health, leading to a steady increase in demand for functional snack products.
Competitive Landscape
In South Korea’s 2025 snack market, Lotte Wellfood continues to lead across all major categories. The company operates large-scale manufacturing facilities that enhance production efficiency and lower per-unit costs. This industrial advantage, combined with advanced product development capabilities, has solidified Lotte Wellfood’s status as leader overall snacks.
Channel developments
As the number of trend-driven snack product launches continues to grow, convenience stores is the most strategically significant retail channel in 2025. Unlike hypermarkets and supermarkets, which primarily operate as volume-driven platforms, convenience stores prioritise product variety over sheer quantity. This makes them an ideal testing ground for new product concepts - particularly those aimed at younger consumers who actively seek novelty.
What next for snacks?
Retail volume sales of snacks in South Korean are projected to decline during the forecast period, thanks largely to a combination of macroeconomic and demographic factors. These include a falling birth rate, increasing substitution by other food and foodservice categories, a growing tendency of avoiding ultra processed foods, and rising prices within snacks.
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Overview:
Understand the latest market trends and future growth opportunities for the Snacks industry in South Korea with research from Euromonitor International's team of in-country analysts – experts by industry and geographic specialisation.
Key trends are clearly and succinctly summarised alongside the most current research data available. Understand and assess competitive threats and plan corporate strategy with our qualitative analysis, insight and confident growth projections.
Data and analysis in this report provides further detailed coverage dedicated to a comprehensive range of core packaged food categories.
If you're in the Snacks industry in South Korea, our research will help you to make informed, intelligent decisions; to recognise and profit from opportunity, or to offer resilience amidst market uncertainty.
The Snacks in South Korea report includes:
- Analysis of key supply-side and demand trends
- Detailed segmentation of international and local products
- Historic volume and value sizes, company and brand market shares
- Five year forecasts of market trends and market growth
- Robust and transparent research methodology, conducted in-country
This report answers:
- What is the market size of Snacks in South Korea?
- Which are the leading brands in Snacks in South Korea?
- How are products distributed in Snacks in South Korea?
- How is the rise of e-commerce and/or the expansion of modern grocery retail impacting traditional retail?
- What are the key health and wellness concerns driving, or challenging, sales in Snacks?
- How significant are vegan and vegetarian dietary requirements in determining sales growth in South Korea?
- How has COVID-19 impacted consumer demand? To what extent have lockdown, home seclusion and stockpiling boosted sales? Will the longer term economic repercussions of the pandemic stimulate or suppress future growth?
- Where is future growth expected to be most dynamic?
- How significant will values-based claims, such as sustainability and ethical labelling, be in supporting future growth and brand equity?
Snacks in South Korea
Snacks in 2025: The big picture
Key trends in 2025
Competitive Landscape
Channel developments
What next for snacks?
DISCLAIMER
Chocolate Confectionery in South Korea
KEY DATA FINDINGS
Cocoa price inflation reshapes chocolate confectionery landscape
Competition intensifies between domestic and international chocolate players
Affordable premiums work when they go viral
Anticipated ingredients shift and development for forecast period
Expansion into other categories by efficiently utilising cocoa
Potential growth of texture-driven and functional premium products
Gum in South Korea
KEY DATA FINDINGS
Functional gum as a convenient stimulant alternative
Lotte Wellfood’s enduring dominance of gum
Redefining gum culture through fun marketing activities
Chewing gum to evolve through functional expansion
Bubble gum needs differentiation to survive from cannibalisation and competition
Functional mints may represent emerging threat to gum
Sugar Confectionery in South Korea
KEY DATA FINDINGS
Traditional sweets lose ground amid rise of functional and indulgent alternatives
Competitive landscape: local leaders, global challengers
Highlighting taste and texture within gummies and chewy candies
Medicated confectionery may overtake conventional sweets
The expanding opportunity of gummies and jellies in functional confectionery
Flavour, texture and virality as winning formula for gummies and jellies
Ice Cream in South Korea
KEY DATA FINDINGS
Cannibalisation and foodservice diversion lead to flat performance for ice cream
Stable leaders and disruptive challengers
Convenience and accessibility as key decision drivers
Retail faces rising threat from foodservice
Product innovation and differentiation needed to offset cannibalisation and volume decline
A longer summer brings opportunities, as well as heightened competition with alternatives
Savoury Snacks in South Korea
KEY DATA FINDINGS
Rise of functional natural trends in savoury snacks
Nongshim and Orion remain ahead of the rest
Virality as a strategic lever in 2025
Rising health consciousness may present challenges for snacks
The necessity of rethinking steady sellers
Convenience stores as gatekeeper of volume growth
Sweet Biscuits, Snack Bars and Fruit Snacks in South Korea
KEY DATA FINDINGS
Growing preference for health-conscious and nutrient-rich snacks
Despite new entrants, leading players retain stronghold
Inadequate value delivered by packaged chocolate coated biscuits, compared with well-developed chocolate desserts in foodservice outlet
Legacy snack brands set to undergo inevitable transformation as more consumers seek novelty and trendiness
Meal-replacement biscuits and snacks face potential challenges
The rise of individually packaged biscuits
The following categories and subcategories are included:
Snacks
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- Chocolate Pouches and Bags
- Boxed Assortments
- Chocolate with Toys
- Countlines
- Seasonal Chocolate
- Tablets
- Other Chocolate Confectionery
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- Bubble Gum
- Chewing Gum
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- Boiled Sweets
- Chewy Candies
- Gummies and Jellies
- Liquorice
- Lollipops
- Medicated Confectionery
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- Power Mints
- Standard Mints
- Toffees, Caramels and Nougat
- Other Sugar Confectionery
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- Frozen Yoghurt
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- Single Portion Dairy Ice Cream
- Single Portion Water Ice Cream
- Plant-based Ice Cream
- Unpackaged Ice Cream
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- Bulk Dairy Ice Cream
- Ice Cream Desserts
- Multi-Pack Dairy Ice Cream
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- Bulk Water Ice Cream
- Multi-Pack Water Ice Cream
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- Nuts, Seeds and Trail Mixes
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- Potato Chips
- Tortilla Chips
- Puffed Snacks
- Rice Snacks
- Vegetable, Pulse and Bread Chips
- Savoury Biscuits
- Popcorn
- Pretzels
- Meat Snacks
- Seafood Snacks
- Other Savoury Snacks
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- Dried Fruit
- Processed Fruit Snacks
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- Cereal Bars
- Protein/Energy Bars
- Fruit and Nut Bars
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- Chocolate Coated Biscuits
- Cookies
- Filled Biscuits
- Plain Biscuits
- Wafers
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This report originates from Passport, our Snacks research and analysis database.
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