Exports of instant noodles and sugar to Japan rose sharply after a record earthquake hit the island nation earlier in the month, causing people and retailers to stock up on basic necessities, South Korea's government said Sunday.
Cumulative shipments of instant noodles to Japan shot up 59.1 percent on-year between Jan. 1 and Wednesday as Japanese retailers asked for more products to meet a surge in consumer demand, the farm ministry said.
That compares with a 51.7 percent increase in shipments between Jan. 1 and March 11, the day of the earthquake, the ministry said.
Exports of sugar, used in many processed food products,rose from 34.2 percent to 51.1 percent during the same period while gains were also tallied for soju and brown seaweed.
Shipments of soju, a Korean distilled beverage made from rice and other starches, have increased 8.6 percent on-year this year, but gains reached 17.8 percent after the quake and the release of radioactive materials from the Fukushima nuclear
power station, 250 kilometers northeast of Tokyo.
Brown seaweed shipments rose from a gain of 3.4 percent to 13.3 percent, the ministry said.
The ministry, however, said exports of non-vital products or those that are hard to preserve for long periods of time such as roses, ginseng and makgeolli -- a traditional rice wine beverage -- fell after the quake.
In addition, shipment numbers for fresh abalone, oysters, laver and flounder all declined in the days following the tremor.
Local retail giant E-Mart said there has been a spike in international deliveries of instant noodles, crackers and canned food being sent to Japan from South Korea.
It said its online mall services (www.emartmall.com) reported orders jumping two-fold in the past two weeks while two of its
off-line stores that ship products directly to Japan reported parcels containing noodles, instant rice and dried laver rising by over 50 percent.