Despite slurping up more than 40 billion packets a year, the paomian/fangbian mian/gong jai meen (depending where you are in the Chinese-speaking world) industry is in terminal decline.
In the third quarter of 2014, sales volumes declined fell 9.1 percent from the previous year, and revenue dropped 4.4 percent. According to the Chinese Institute of Food Science and Technology, roughly 90 percent of instant noodle firms in China folded.
Traditionally a staple of students engrossed in late-night cramming sessions and migrant workers saving their meager earnings to send home, the decline of instant noodles has been partly blamed on health concerns.
Not only do more and more people know about the inherent health risks of eating so much flash-fried noodles in oily broth, but the the industry has also been rocked by food safety scandals in recent years such as the use of plasticizer in Tongyi-brand noodles.
Another reason may be changing patterns of internal migration within China. Instant noodle companies typically concentrate their sales networks in developed eastern areas and first- and second-tier cities. As an increasingly number of migrant workers look west for work in the country's interior, they find themselves in markets not yet penetrated by industry giants.
Instant noodles were invented in 1958 by Taiwanese-Businessman Momofuku Ando, who was born Go Pek-Hok in Japanese-occupied Taiwan before moving to Kyoto for university and taking a Japanese name.
Japan and Taiwan both remain powerhouses in the instant noodle industry, with Taiwanese-owned Master Kong noodles remaining the nation's best-selling. However, the craze for all things Korean that has consumed China in recent years has given a boost to (relatively) upmarket South Korean brands such as Shin Ramyun.
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