South Korea was the 4th biggest exporter of cosmetics in the world last year...and it's not just makeup.<br />Local biopharmaceutical and medical products are also revitalizing the country's exports.<br />Kim Da-mi help us look beyond the digits.<br />K-beauty and K-medical products are becoming one of South Korea's biggest cash cows...all thanks to 'Hallyu' or the Korean wave.<br />With Korean culture like K-pop growing in popularity around the globe,... Korea's health care and cosmetics exports reached almost 15 billion U.S. dollars last year.<br />That is almost the same amount as one of Korea's leading export products, mobile phones, during the same period.<br />Korean cosmetics accounted for 43 percent of the sector's total exports... followed by medicine and medical equipment.<br />Demand for Korean makeup products has been on the rise with an average growth rate of around 35 percent a year for the past five years.<br />China was the biggest overseas market for South Korean beauty products, bringing in almost 27 billion dollars in 2018.<br />Hong Kong, the U.S. and Japan also have been major markets.<br />In addition, exports of Korean medicine have been increasing every year since 2014, with an increase of 15 percent in 2018 compared to the year before.<br /><br />Biopharmaceuticals made up almost 40 percent of Korea's total medicine exports last year followed by vaccines and botox.<br />South Korea has categorized cosmetics, clothing, medicine, baby goods and agricultural and fishery products as key consumption goods. Exports of these products was worth a total of 27 billion dollars last year.<br />Recognizing their potential as key export items, the Finance Ministry proposed a plan last week to increase exports of these products to a target of 36 billion dollars by 2022.<br />Kim Da-mi, Arirang News.<br />
