Korean Snack Prices From 1 October 2026: Haitai Raises 25 Brands by 7.8%, Pocky Jumps 15.8%, and 14 Packs Shrink Instead

Last updated: September 2026. Prices are from Haitai Confectionery's (해태제과) announcement of 18 September 2026 as carried by Newspim, Financial News, EBN, Global Economic and NewDaily; weights from Haitai's own product pages (ht.co.kr), read 26 September 2026; Ottogi (오뚜기) and Dongwon F&B (동원F&B) figures from Newspim, eToday and Seoul Shinmun; the shrinkflation labelling rule from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety as published on korea.kr. Won prices are the makers' announced prices per pack; individual shops can and do differ.

This is the second instalment of EpicKor's Korean food price series. In August we covered the four makers that raised prices within three weeks — Pulmuone, Nongshim, Paris Baguette and Samlip — and ended with a warning that prices in Korea now need a date next to them. This is the next date.

On 1 October 2026, 해태제과 (Haitai Confectionery) — the company behind Honey Butter Chip, Homerun Ball and O'Yes — starts supplying 25 brands at prices an average of 7.8% higher. Most of the famous ones go up by ₩100. Two go up by far more: Pocky (포키) by 15.8% and the 자유시간 (Jayu Sigan) chocolate bar by 16.7%.

There is also a second list most coverage mentions in one line: 14 packs across five brands keep their price and lose weight instead — and four of those brands are on the price list too. That is the part worth understanding before you buy anything.

The 60 g bag that goes to ₩1,800 in Korea on 1 October: Haitai Honey Butter Chip, 60 g x 8 on AmazonAffiliate link. As an Amazon Associate, EpicKor earns from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you.

Quick Guide: every confirmed price change, autumn 2026

The line that matters most: the ₩1,700 bag — the price tier that held most of Korea's famous snacks in our August snapshot — is now starting to break. Honey Butter Chip and Calbee's Garubi chips are the first big names to move to ₩1,800.

What Haitai announced, and what "from 1 October" actually means

Haitai announced the increase on 18 September 2026. The figures every outlet carried are the same: 25 brands, an average of 7.8%, broken down as snacks (6 brands) +9.8%, chocolate (3 brands) +9.8%, biscuits (11 brands) +9.4%, candy (3 brands) +10.0%, and the frozen dumpling line 고향만두 (Gohyang Mandu). The stated reason was higher crude oil and raw material prices pushing up manufacturing and logistics costs.

The wording of the start date is precise and easy to misread. The Korean phrase is "10월 1일부터 거래처별 재고 물량을 고려해 순차적으로 공급" — the new-price stock will be supplied from 1 October, in sequence, depending on each retailer's existing inventory. In practice:

• 1 October is when the new price starts leaving Haitai, not the day every shelf in Korea changes.
• A shop with a full stockroom of old-price Homerun Ball can keep selling it at ₩1,900 until it runs out.
• NewDaily, which broke the story on the morning of 18 September citing industry sources, reported that the new prices apply from 1 October in the convenience store channel. Convenience stores turn stock over fastest, so that is where the new number appears first.

NewDaily also noted this is Haitai's first broad price rise in about one year and ten months, and reported several prices the other outlets did not: Honey Butter Chip 120 g from ₩3,400 to ₩3,600, 에이스 (Ace) crackers 364 g from ₩5,000 to ₩5,200, the four Pocky flavours (original, extra-thin, strawberry, blueberry) all moving from ₩1,900 to ₩2,200, and the longer 자유시간 1500 bar from ₩1,500 to ₩1,800 — a 20% rise, the largest single figure in the whole announcement.

The timing drew comment in Korea for another reason. On 8 September, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (농림축산식품부) met food companies at the Korea Food Industry Association and asked them, ahead of Chuseok, to help keep grocery prices stable. News1's headline on Haitai's announcement was simply that it came ten days after that request. If you read the August instalment, you will recognise the pattern: in Korea, held-back increases tend to queue, then release together.

You might like: Jayu Sigan: The Korean Chocolate Bar Designed to Leave No Evidence

The full list of 25 brands

Haitai's category breakdown, as published by Wikitree, Global Economic and others on 18 September:

One honest note: the published category counts (6 + 3 + 11 + 3, plus Gohyang Mandu) add up to 24, not 25, and no outlet explains the difference, and Haitai's own website had not posted the announcement when we checked on 26 September.

Honey Butter Chip is on both lists. Here is what that means

This is the question the headlines skip. Every report says Haitai raises Honey Butter Chip (허니버터칩) from ₩1,700 to ₩1,800 — and every report also lists Honey Butter Chip among the five brands whose packs shrink while the price stays the same. Both are true, because they apply to different packs of the same brand.

What is confirmed:

• The 60 g bag goes up in price: ₩1,700 to ₩1,800 (+5.9%), in every report of the announcement. It is the standard size — Haitai's own product page lists Honey Butter Chip at 60 g.
• The 120 g bag goes up in price too: ₩3,400 to ₩3,600, per NewDaily's convenience-store report. Only one outlet carried this figure.
• Other Honey Butter Chip packs keep their price and lose weight. Haitai's wording is that five brands — 빠새, 오사쯔, 허니버터칩, 가루비감자칩, 아이스쿨 — account for 14 items that will be lighter at the same price.

What is not public yet: which Honey Butter Chip packs those are, and how many grams they lose. None of the nine Korean reports we read gives a before-and-after weight; Haitai's statement (via Green Economy News) says only that some items will be made lighter "to lessen the burden on the market."

Three of the other four shrink-list brands — Ppasae (빠새), Osatsu (오사쯔) and Calbee Garubi Potato Chip (가루비감자칩) — are also in the snack price list, so the same split by pack very likely applies, though only Garubi's price-rise pack has been named; Garubi's 55 g bag is confirmed at ₩1,700 to ₩1,800. Only 아이스쿨 (Ice Cool), a mint gum Haitai sells in an 82 g bottle, is on the shrink list alone.

So the practical rule is simple: for these five brands in October, the price tag tells you less than the weight does. A Honey Butter Chip bag at the old price is not necessarily old stock. It may be a smaller bag.

How to spot a smaller pack on a Korean shelf

Korea has a specific rule for exactly this, and it works in your favour.

Since 1 January 2025, under the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety's (식품의약품안전처) labelling standard, a food whose contents have been reduced must say so on the pack for at least three months after the change. The ministry's own examples of the wording are:

• "내용량 00g (이전 내용량 00g)" — contents 00 g (previous contents 00 g)
• "내용량 00g (내용량 변경 제품, 00g→00g)" or "00% 감소" — reduced by 00%

Two exceptions matter. The label is not required if the price was cut at the same time so the unit price did not rise, or if the reduction is 5% or less. A cut of 5% or under can arrive silently.

What to look for, in order:

1. The gram figure on the front or back. Korean snack bags print the net weight as "내용량" or as a number followed by g near the nutrition panel.
2. A sticker or printed note containing 이전 (previous), 변경 (changed) or 감소 (decrease). That is the mandatory notice. If you see it, you are holding a shrunk pack.
3. The shelf label's unit price. Larger Korean supermarkets print a price per 10 g or 100 g (단위가격) on the shelf tag. That number exposes a shrink even when the pack says nothing.

An older Fair Trade Commission rule, in force since August 2024, already required makers to disclose a reduction for three months on everyday goods including snacks and ramyun, with fines of ₩5 million and then ₩10 million.

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Around the same time: Ottogi rice, Ottogi cup noodles, Dongwon tuna

Haitai is the October story, but it is not the only autumn change, and two of the others have already happened.

오뚜기 (Ottogi) instant rice — 1 September 2026, convenience stores. Ottogi raised 21 rice products sold at CU, GS25 and 7-Eleven (large supermarkets followed from 7 September), the first rise for 오뚜기밥 since April 2022. The standard 210 g Ottogi Rice went from ₩2,000 to ₩2,400 (+20%), the 150 g small bowl from ₩1,700 to ₩2,100 (+23.5%), the 300 g large bowl from ₩2,800 to ₩3,400 (+21.4%), and the three-packs of germinated brown rice and black rice from ₩6,800 to ₩8,800 (+29.4%). Ottogi cited rice and packaging costs. This is the steepest percentage in this whole article, and it is on the item most visitors buy to go with a cup noodle.

Ottogi cup noodles and dumplings — 7 September 2026, supermarkets first. Ottogi raised 29 cup-noodle items across 11 brands by an average of 6.7% and 16 dumpling items by 7.7%, starting with large supermarkets. Examples it gave: Jin Ramen cup (110 g) and Yeul Ramen cup (105 g) ₩1,200 to ₩1,300, Chamkkae Ramen cup (110 g) ₩1,400 to ₩1,550, and X.O. Gyoza 324 g x 2 from ₩10,480 to ₩11,480. Bagged ramyun was excluded — Ottogi's packet noodles did not change.

동원F&B (Dongwon F&B) — 1 September 2026. Dongwon raised canned tuna, including 동원참치 (Dongwon Tuna), by an average of 9% and some drinks, such as its Yangban omija tea, by 9 to 10%, citing oil prices, the exchange rate and packaging. None of the reports we found gave can-by-can prices, so we are not printing any.

The Ottogi rice rise produced the most useful story of the month for anyone shopping in Korea. On 16 September Money Today reported a customer at a CU convenience store in Yeouido Hangang Park who picked up Ottogi Rice labelled ₩2,000 and was charged ₩2,400 at the till — the shelf tag had not been changed, in at least three places in the shop. The staff offered a refund; the customer had already heated the rice. Two weeks after a price change, shelf tags in Korea can still show the old price. The till is right, and the tag is out of date.

You might like: Hetbahn: What Korea's Instant Rice Is Made Of, and How to Heat It Without a Microwave

Where you will actually see the new prices first

The realistic order: convenience stores (CU, GS25, 7-Eleven, Emart24) first, because they reorder small quantities constantly and NewDaily's report is about that channel; supermarkets (E-Mart, Lotte Mart, Homeplus) as stock turns over, often later; independent shops last.

Check the till, not the tag, for the first few weeks. As the Yeouido case shows, tags lag. If the till charges more than the tag, you can ask for a refund, as the shop in that story offered.

Look for 1+1 and 2+1 stickers. Korean convenience stores run constant multi-buy promotions, and a price rise does not stop them. A ₩2,200 Pocky on 2+1 still works out cheaper per box than a ₩1,900 one at full price.

If you are buying to take home, buy big at a supermarket. The per-gram gap between a convenience-store single bag and a supermarket multipack was already large in August, and the August instalment explains why. October does not change that advice; it adds ₩100 to both sides.

You might like: Korean Ramen Went Premium: Why a Packet Now Costs ₩1,900

The honest part: what this does not mean

It is not much money. The typical change is ₩100 a bag; even Pocky's 15.8% is ₩300. Over a week's visit, October's Haitai rise costs less than one convenience-store coffee.

Do not stock up at the airport. Airport convenience stores are branches of the same chains with the same stock, and we found no report of duty-free shops doing anything different with Haitai snacks. Buy snacks in the city, at a supermarket, on the last day.

Plenty did not change. Ottogi's bagged ramyun was deliberately excluded from its September rise. Among Haitai's own best-known products, 맛동산 (Matdongsan) and 후렌치파이 (French Pie) do not appear on any of the published lists. Nongshim's, Orion's and Lotte's snacks are not part of this announcement at all.

Official inflation looked calm right up to this. Korea's National Data Agency (국가데이터처) put processed-food inflation at 0.8% in May and 0.9% in June 2026, down from 4.6% in June 2025 — the result, Newspim reported, of sustained government requests to hold prices. A 7.8% announcement arriving after that is exactly the queued-increase pattern the August article described.

Shrinkflation is the part to watch. A ₩100 rise is on a sticker; a lighter bag at the same price is only visible in the grams.

FAQ

Q: When do Haitai's new prices start in Korea?

A: Haitai begins supplying the new-price stock on 1 October 2026, rolled out retailer by retailer as existing stock runs down. Convenience stores are expected to change first; supermarkets may keep old-price stock for some time.

Q: How much is Honey Butter Chip in Korea now?

A: Until 30 September the 60 g bag is ₩1,700; Haitai starts supplying it at ₩1,800 from 1 October 2026, and shops switch as old stock runs out. NewDaily reported the 120 g bag at ₩3,600, up from ₩3,400. Some other Honey Butter Chip packs keep their old price but will contain less; Haitai has not published which packs or by how much.

Q: Which Haitai snacks are getting smaller instead of more expensive?

A: Fourteen items across five brands: 빠새 (Ppasae), 오사쯔 (Osatsu), 허니버터칩 (Honey Butter Chip), 가루비감자칩 (Calbee Garubi Potato Chip) and 아이스쿨 (Ice Cool gum). The new weights had not been published as of 26 September 2026. Look for the mandatory "이전 내용량" (previous contents) note on the pack.

Q: Which item has the biggest price rise?

A: Among Haitai's products, the 자유시간 1500 bar, reported at ₩1,500 to ₩1,800 (+20%), then the 36 g 자유시간 (+16.7%) and Pocky (+15.8%). Across all the autumn changes in this article, Ottogi's germinated-grain rice three-packs rose most: ₩6,800 to ₩8,800 (+29.4%) on 1 September.

Sources

• Newspim, 18 September 2026 (news/view/20260918000794): Haitai's 25 brands, average 7.8%, category averages, supply from 1 October by retailer inventory, example prices, the five-brand, 14-item weight reduction.
• Financial News, 18 September 2026 (202609181456596478); EBN (idxno=1724875); Global Economic (20260918161003641740eacf404_1); Wikitree (1160518); Seoul Shinmun; Business Plus: the same announcement, product prices including Jayu Sigan, Alsatang and Gohyang Mandu, and the full brand list by category.
• NewDaily, 18 September 2026, 09:31: convenience-store channel from 1 October; Honey Butter Chip 120 g, Ace 364 g, Pocky flavours and 자유시간 1500 prices; first broad rise in about one year and ten months.
• Green Economy News (greened.kr, idxno=350470): Haitai's statement on reducing weight to hold prices.
• News1 and Money Today, 18 September 2026: timing relative to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs meeting of 8 September.
• Haitai Confectionery product pages (ht.co.kr), read 26 September 2026: listed pack weights for Honey Butter Chip 60 g, Homerun Ball 46 g, Pocky 46 g, O'Yes 360 g, Jayu Sigan 36 g, Ppasae 55 g, Osatsu 60 g, Garubi Potato Chip 55 g, Ice Cool 82 g; product images.
• Newspim, 1 September 2026 (20260901001210): Ottogi rice prices at CU, GS25 and 7-Eleven, 21 items, first rise since April 2022.
• eToday, 13 August 2026 (2614181): Ottogi cup noodle and dumpling increases from 7 September, example prices, bagged ramyun excluded.
• Seoul Shinmun and Herald Business, 25 August 2026: Dongwon F&B tuna +9% and drinks +9–10% from 1 September.
• Money Today, 16 September 2026: the Yeouido Hangang Park CU shelf-tag case.
• korea.kr policy briefing, "2025 달라지는 식품안전 제도": the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety's reduced-contents labelling rule from 1 January 2025, its wording and exemptions.
• Infostock Daily and NewDaily (3 May 2024) on the Fair Trade Commission notice in force from 3 August 2024: three-month notification, the 5% exemption and fines of ₩5 million and ₩10 million.
• Newspim, 2 July 2026 (20260702000273): processed-food inflation from the National Data Agency.