Sales of instant noodles in South Korea soared to a fresh all-time high in the first half of the year due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Local shipments of instant noodles, or “ramyeon” in Korean, came to 1.13 trillion won (US$950 million) in the January-June period, up 7.2 percent from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by Nielsen Korea and released by industry leader Nongshim Co.

The first-half tally represents the largest half-year sales figure on record.

Nongshim said instant noodle sales increased sharply in the first half as the coronavirus forced people to stay home longer.