Cosmax Co., a South Korean cosmetic goods manufacturer, is expected to see a
rapid growth in China, boosted by rising demand in the world's most populous
country, company officials said Thursday.
The company, which supplies
other cosmetics makers as an original design manufacturer (ODM), is expected to
see its sales in China top 60 billion won (US$54 million) this year, up some 45
percent on-year, they said.
Last year, Cosmax posted 40.8 billion won
in its Chinese sales.
Cosmax is known for having supplied cosmetics products
to cosmetics giants, including French firm L'Oreal and U.S. health care product
giant Johnson & Johnson, through original equipment manufacturer or
on-demand manufacturing arrangements.
The manufacturer's Chinese
business, launched in 2004, now makes up nearly 25 percent of its operating
profit, the officials said.
The significance of China in the company's
overall business was largely attributed to its relations with local Chinese
firms.
Its Chinese subsidiary has a very high proportion of Chinese
local companies, which account for 80 percent of their clients in mainland
China, the officials said.
Other global ODM manufacturers are more
focused on supplying foreign brands within China.
Cosmax plans to
steadily increase its output capacity in China by extending its existing
production line in Shanghai as well as completing work on a new plant in the
southern city of Guangzhou this year.
The production capacity will
reach 140 million units by the end of 2012, compared to 90 million units last
year, the officials said.