South Korea’s exports of ice cream to Vietnam jumped 30 percent in 2019 from a year earlier on the back of the growing popularity of Korean culture in Southeast Asia, data showed.

Outbound shipments of ice cream to Vietnam reached $7 million in 2019, rising sharply from $5.3 million a year earlier, according to the report released by the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency.

In contrast, Thailand, the top player in the segment, saw its ice cream exports to Vietnam only edge up 1.8 percent to $8.8 million. Korea took up 35.6 percent of Vietnam’s ice cream imports in 2019.

Experts say the growth was attributable to the cultural wave of Hallyu in Asian countries, which refers to the boom of Korea-made entertainment goods, including pop music, movies and TV dramas. The popularity of Hallyu beefed up demand for Korean goods, including foodstuffs. (Yonhap)