Last Year, Cosmetics Trade Surplus Exceeded 6 Trillion Won... Double-Digit Export Growth

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Dae-yeol] The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety announced on the 17th that the cosmetics trade surplus last year was recorded at 6.1503 trillion KRW. While the import scale remained similar each year, exports increased significantly.

In terms of export scale alone, it was 6.52479 billion USD (7.6086 trillion KRW), up 4.2% from the previous year. Over the past five years, the growth rate has been steep, increasing by more than 26% annually. Last year, cosmetics imports amounted to 1.25058 billion USD (1.4583 trillion KRW), similar to the previous year. Imports decreased by about 3% in dollar terms but slightly increased in KRW terms.

The cosmetics trade surplus turned positive for the first time since 2012 and exceeded 1 trillion KRW in 2015. It surpassed 5 trillion KRW in 2018 and exceeded 6 trillion KRW again after one year. This marks eight consecutive years of surplus. By country, China led with exports of 3.06015 billion USD, nearly half of total exports. Hong Kong, the United States, and Japan followed.

In the case of Russia, exports increased by 34% compared to the previous year, and exports to Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan also rose by 117% and 111%, respectively, leading the growth in northern region exports. South Korea's cosmetics export scale ranks fourth in the world after France, the United States, and Germany. It rose to fourth place in 2017, surpassing Italy, China, Spain, and Japan, and has maintained this ranking since.

Last year, cosmetics production reached 16.2633 trillion KRW, up 4.9% over the same period. By type, basic cosmetics accounted for about 60%, followed by color cosmetics (13%), hair care products (12%), and body cleansing products (10%). By company, LG Household & Health Care was the largest with 4.9603 trillion KRW, followed by AmorePacific, Aekyung Industrial, Coreana Cosmetics, and Carver Korea. Functional cosmetics production reached 5.3448 trillion KRW, up 7.3% from the previous year.

Lee Ui-kyung, Commissioner of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, said, "The continuous growth of the cosmetics industry is the result of the industry's relentless technological development combined with government regulatory improvements and support." He added, "We will increase institutional support for fostering future cosmetics industries such as customized cosmetics, operate the Cosmetics Regulatory Harmonization Support Center, and strengthen regulatory cooperation between countries to do our best for the 'K-Beauty globalization'."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.