Cosmax opens Asia's largest cosmetics plant in China

Cosmax Inc., South Korea's biggest cosmetics maker using original design manufacturing (ODM), has opened Asia's largest cosmetics plant in China.

With the completion of the facility, the company plans to enter the color makeup market through a partnership with Yatsen Holding Ltd, a leader in the Chinese beauty sector.

Cosmax on Sunday said its Chinese joint venture Yatsen Biotechnology completed construction of and began operations at the plant in Guangzhou. The JV was launched by Cosmax and Yatsen Holding in 2020 with paid-in capital of 400 million yuan ($55.5 million or 73.4 billion won), with the former owning a stake of 51% and the latter 49%.

Cosmax Group Chairman Lee Kyung-soo, Cosmax Vice Chairman and Co-CEO Shim Sang-bae, Cosmax BTI Vice President and Co-CEO Lee Byung-man, Yatsen Biotechnology General Manager Lee Sang-in and Yatsen Holding founder and CEO Huang Jinfeng attended the completion ceremony on Friday.

Covering 60,593 square meters at Mingju Industrial Park in Guangzhou's Conghua district, this is Asia's single largest cosmetics plant in the area, a Cosmax source said.

The initial monthly capacity is five million units and will gradually expand to 30 million or 400 million per year. Cosmax expects to employ about 2,500 people when producing 30 million.

Thus Cosmax will have the capacity to produce 1.4 billion units a year in China alone if an output of a combined billion from its Shanghai and Guangzhou plants is added.

Yatsen Holding seeks to emerge as a global player in general cosmetics and skincare with the new plant. As the parent company of Perfect Diary, a color makeup brand that rose to No. 1 in China within two years of launch, Yatsen Holding was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2020.

In China, Perfect Diary is considered a leader in the domestic beauty sector. Cosmax has supervised the development and production of this brand since the latter's launch in 2017.

Write to Soo-Jung Ha at agatha77@hankyung.com