Cosmax to supply products to Shiseido

Cosmax, a Korean cosmetics original development manufacturing (ODM), said on Monday that it signed a product supply contract with Shiseido Group of Japan. The Korean company will supply skin care and color cosmetics products to Shiseido and Za, two brands of the Japanese cosmetics group. It plans to develop anti-aging and organic cosmetics where Japanese consumers have a strong interest and export them to Japan.

It is the first time that a Korean ODM signed a product supply contract with the largest cosmetics brand in Japan. Traditionally, most large Japanese cosmetics companies did not let non-Japanese ODMs produce their products as they have core technologies in the cosmetics materials and dosage forms. “This reflects a growing interest in made-in-Korea cosmetics products even in Japan, which was believed to be ahead of Korea in the cosmetics industry,” Cosmax CEO Lee Kyung-soo said.

Cosmax will drive exports to Japan based on the contract signed with Shiseido Group. The Japanese cosmetics market is around 26 trillion won (22.08 billion U.S. dollars) last year, accounting for 8.9 percent of the global cosmetics market. As it has a huge impact on the Asian market, Japan is considered to be a very important market in the global cosmetics industry. “As some 30 Japanese leading cosmetics companies have been contacting our company, we are considering increasing supply channels to Japan," said Kim Joon-bae, head of the overseas business division of Cosmax.