<Anchor>
Since last year, the price
of ramen has been rising rapidly. The companies explained that this is because the price of raw materials has risen a lot, and even though the price of raw materials has been declining lately, the price of ramen noodles is still the same.

Reporter Je Hee-won took a look at why.

<Reporter> The price of ramen, a
typical food for ordinary people, has risen steadily since the second half of
last year.

Nongshim, the country's No. 1 ramen company, raised its prices by 11.3 percent, followed by Ottogi, Faldo and Samyang Foods, which also raised their prices by around 10 percent.

[Lee Eun-young/Seoul Gang Seo-seo: Ramen noodles have also gone up so much (in price) that I tend to choose one more stick, because even though I don't have a few, the money is just a few thousand won....]

Ramen manufacturers cited rising costs as the main reason for the price increase.

Last year, in the aftermath of the war in Ukraine and supply chain instability, the overall cost of wheat and palm oil, which are the main ingredients of instant noodles, as well as transportation and packaging costs, went up.

This year, however, conditions are different.

International prices of wheat and palm oil, which account for most of the cost, are falling, but consumer prices have remained the same.

[Food company employee: Since the international price of raw materials is not immediately reflected, we are currently using raw materials that have risen in price.

As things stand, the inflation rate was 13.1% last month.

It has risen the most since the global financial crisis.

The cost burden has decreased somewhat, but the price increase has been maintained, and companies have performed better.

Nongshim's operating profit in the first quarter increased by 1% compared to last year, and Ottogi also increased by 85%.

In addition to domestic demand, the increase in overseas exports of ramen noodles also contributed to the performance.

However, in the era of high inflation, the burden related to food is increasing, so consumers' eyes are not good enough to quickly reflect the increase factor in the price.

(Video Editing: Kim Ho-jin, VJ: Park Hyun-woo, CG: Jang Sung-beom)