Retail sales of cosmetic products in Korea grew 9.6 percent on-year in 2011 thanks to higher demand from domestic consumers and foreign tourists, data showed Monday.
Cosmetic product sales here came to 10.82 trillion won ($9.63 billion) last year, compared with 9.81 trillion won a year earlier, according to the data offered by Statistics Korea. The growth rate was the second fastest after an 11.3 percent gain in 2009.
Cosmetics sales in South Korea have been on the rise in recent years. In 2005, the figure stood at 7.22 trillion won and grew to 8.35 trillion won and 9.29 trillion won in 2008 and 2009, respectively.
The sharp increase is attributable to growing demand for high-end cosmetics from domestic consumers and foreign tourists visiting Korea.
The so-called Korean Wave, or the boom of contemporary Korean culture mainly in Asia, also helped boost demand for Korean goods abroad, which has translated into more exports, experts said.
Exports of Korean cosmetics grew at an annual rate of 28.4 percent from 2006 through 2010, according to industry data. In 2010, their overseas sales reached $761 million, up about 80 percent from a year earlier.
More than half of the exports went to Japan and China. Exports to Japan notably doubled to over $100 million last year, the data showed. (Yonhap)