Intensive support for ‘K-Beauty’…The World’s Top 3 Cosmetics Exporters in 2022

A Study on the Promotion of Cosmetics IndustryCreate 4 to 7 companies and 73,000 jobs in the world’s top 100 companies
Deletion of manufacturer’s…World’s First Customer Customized Cosmetics System
Ministry of Health and Welfare, January 15, 2019.

The government will intensively support the “K-beauty” cosmetics industry to help Korea become one of the world’s top three cosmetics exporters by 2022.

Through research and development of basic materials and new technologies, the company will raise the level of domestic technology to 95 percent and implement a customized cosmetics system for the first time in the world, along with the removal of manufacturer’s labeling duties, which had been requested by the industry.

The company will also establish a K-beauty public relations center and a large-scale fair to enhance brand competitiveness, while establishing a K-beauty cluster so that cosmetics production, new technology development, professional education and promotion consulting can take place in one place.

The government announced the K-beauty “Future Cosmetics Industry Promotion Plan” jointly with related ministries on May 5.

◇ Promoting R&D of basic materials and new technologies for cosmetics

The government first decided to expand research and development of basic materials and new technologies for cosmetics, which had been highly prioritized at the site. The company plans to achieve domestic technology levels from 86.8 percent to 95 percent by 2030, while lowering the proportion of Japanese raw materials imports from 23.5 percent to 18 percent by 2022.

Basic materials such as surfactants and UV-blocking materials, which are heavily dependent on imports, will be localized, and materials will be localized using white persimmon ( whitening effect) and yellow lotus (anti-aging).

The company will also develop anti-aging materials and control microbiome that exists in the skin to make cosmetics that improve sensitive skin.

While using genetic analysis results to develop cosmetics that reflect individual skin characteristics, the company will actively develop technologies that can tap the global market, such as microphones (e.g., saliva that pierces dead skin layer) and emotional molding technology that increases satisfaction in color, texture, and usage.

◇ Improving the cosmetics regulatory system

To facilitate cosmetics’ entry into overseas markets, the local regulatory system will also be improved in line with international standards.

First of all, it is going to protect innovative technologies and eliminate its obligation to designate manufacturers that had high requests from industries for small and medium-sized brand-oriented growth. The report came after the government pointed out that there are many problems with exports falling due to the fact that manufacturers’ information has been disclosed to the public due to the increased number of similar products and the weakening competitiveness of small and medium-sized brand companies.

In March next year, the company will also implement the world’s first customized cosmetics system that manufactures cosmetics tailored to customers through individual skin diagnoses. The government expects the system to create 5,000 new jobs as a result of the introduction of a “compensation management” system in charge of mixing raw materials and managing subdivisions and quality.

The government plans to actively respond to any infringement of intellectual property rights caused by imitative sales of cosmetics products in Korea. Through its overseas missions, the government will inform local consumers and businesses of their illegal activities and conduct regular surveys.

◇ Creating a K-Beauty PR Hall and a large-scale fair

The government plans to diversify the cosmetics export market by strengthening support for the entry of new South Korea into emerging countries, and to enhance the competitiveness of K-beauty brands by establishing a K-beauty PR center and a large-scale fair.

It will also create a “K-Beauty PR Hall” in areas frequented by foreigners such as Myeong-dong and Gangnam to introduce various small and medium-sized Korean cosmetics products, and create a large-scale cosmetics fair at the national level to encourage overseas buyers to participate.

Together, it will establish a “K-beauty cluster” in which production of cosmetics, research and development of new technologies, professional education including beauty services and consulting on small and medium-sized enterprises can take place in one place.

◇Building a K-Beauty Cluster

The company will operate a “one-stop comprehensive support center for cosmetics” to address the problem of having to transfer support from government ministries and related agencies to cosmetics.

The company will also run the “K-Beauty Industry Academy” to train 2,000 K-beauty global workers annually in Korea, and prepare programs for overseas trainees who are interested in K-beauty.

We expect the number of the nation’s top 100 cosmetics companies to increase from four to seven, 150 to 276, and 73,000 new jobs will be created, said Health and Welfare Minister Park Neung-hoo.

Meanwhile, the size of the global cosmetics market grew 5.2 percent annually from $332.9 billion in 2014 to $408.7 billion in 2018. Of the total, South Korea’s cosmetics exports grew 34.9 percent annually to $6.3 billion in 2018 from $1.8 billion in 2014, the fourth-largest in the world as of last year.

Contact: Health and Welfare Medical Devices and Cosmetics TF (044-202-2965), Trade Promotion Division of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (044-203-4841)

Source: Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. Republic of Korea. http://www.korea.kr