April 20, 2024

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South Korea was the third-largest exporter of cosmetics to China in the first quarter of this year, losing its top status to Japan, data showed on Aug. 5.

Its shipments of cosmetics to the world’s second-largest economy came to $720 million in the January-March period, according to the data from the International Trade Center.  

Japan was the leading cosmetics exporter to China during the three-month period with $770 million, trailed by France with $730 million. 

Last year, Korea overtook France as the top cosmetics exporter to China. Japan was the No. 3 exporting country.

In the first quarter of this year, Japan was also the biggest cosmetics exporter to Hong Kong with $350 million, followed by Singapore with $260 million and Korea with $250 million. 

Korea’s overall cosmetics exports rose 26 percent on-year to $6.29 billion in 2018, becoming the fifth-largest exporter in the world. Japan’s exports shot up 42 percent on-year to $5.2 billion, with its global ranking rising one spot to seventh.

By Ram Garikipati and newswires (ram@heraldcorp.com)