Part one argued that American demand for Korean cosmetics has not peaked. This part looks at the two things happening alongside it: European growth rates that run far ahead of the headline number, and inbound tourism that is now past its pre-pandemic level. Korean cosmetics exports rose 27.3 per cent in the first half of 2026, and Europe is one of the regions driving that.
Last verified: 4 August 2026. Built from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy export release, the Korea Customs Service announcement on European import growth, Ministry of Food and Drug Safety quarterly country statistics, and Korea Tourism Organization arrival figures published 23 July 2026. Growth rates from a small base move violently and we expect the European percentages to change; the arrival totals are settled.
Editor’s opinion
We think the sector is undervalued, and we should say what that is based on
Our view is that the Korean cosmetics sector is materially undervalued. Before anything else, here is what that view is not built on: we did not calculate a single multiple. There is no price, no earnings ratio and no market capitalisation anywhere in this article or in part one. So this is a judgement about demand that we are extending into a judgement about price, and a reader is entitled to discount it accordingly.
What the demand evidence shows is three separate engines running at once. America is the largest buyer for a second year and has barely entered the physical channel that holds most of its beauty spending. European imports grew at rates between 30 and 300 per cent across the major markets. And 10.7 million visitors came to Korea in six months, 26.9 per cent above the same half of 2019. Any one of those could be a cycle. Three at once, in different regions, with different mechanics, is harder to dismiss.
What weakens the view
The European percentages come off a small base. The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety quarterly figures put America at 620 million dollars, China at 470 million and Japan at 290 million — and no single European country appears among them. A market growing 300 per cent from very little is still very little, and we would be misleading you if we let the percentage stand in for the size.
We also could not close the loop on tourism. We have the arrival numbers and nothing else. The retail figures that would show visitors actually buying cosmetics — foreign-customer sales at Olive Young, Daiso and the rest — we could not confirm from a primary document, so this article leaves them out. Treat tourism as a plausible mechanism we have not evidenced, not as a proven one.
And there is a tension worth sitting with. The largest group of visitors to Korea is Chinese, at 3.21 million. Exports to China are falling. Whatever those tourists are buying in Seoul, it is not showing up as a recovery in Chinese demand, and we do not claim one is coming.
What would change our view: European growth rates dropping to single digits before the absolute values get large, or the American physical-channel rollout stalling.
Andrew Lee. This section argues a view rather than establishing a fact. It is not a forecast and not a recommendation, and the material it draws on is listed in the sources below.
Europe is growing faster than the headline
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy names Europe as one of the regions driving the 27.3 per cent first-half increase. The Korea Customs Service puts numbers on it: across the major European markets — Poland, the Czech Republic, the United Kingdom, France — imports of Korean cosmetics grew between 30 and 300 per cent through 2025.
That range is wide because the markets are at different stages. It also tells you these are early markets. A mature destination does not triple.
We are giving you the range the customs service gave, rather than picking the 300 per cent figure and leading with it. A span from 30 to 300 across four countries means the average market grew far closer to the bottom of that range than the top, and a single country doing 300 per cent is one country.
What the quarterly country data actually shows
The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety publishes exports by destination. For the first quarter of 2026 the top three are America, China and Japan.
| Destination | Q1 2026 | Share |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 620m dollars | 19.8% |
| China | 470m dollars | 15.0% |
| Japan | 290m dollars | 9.3% |
No European country is in that group. We are putting this table directly beneath the European growth rates on purpose, because the two facts belong together and reading either one alone produces a distorted picture.
China at 15 per cent is the second-largest destination and its exports are declining. That is the ministry’s finding, and part one reported it as well. We are not building an argument on a Chinese rebound, and nothing in these documents describes the decline as temporary.
The visitors are back, and past 2019
The Korea Tourism Organization reported 10.7 million foreign visitors for the first half of 2026 on 23 July. That is 21.3 per cent above the same half of 2025, and 26.9 per cent above the same half of 2019 — the comparison that matters, because it clears the pre-pandemic baseline rather than merely recovering towards it.
Inbound visitors to Korea
First half of 2026, by origin
The bars scale to China as the largest origin. Against the first half of 2019, Taiwan grew 188.4 per cent and the United States 168.6 per cent — the two fastest of the major markets.
What we could not connect
Arrivals are not sales. The argument people make here is that visitors try Korean cosmetics in Seoul and keep buying them at home, which would make tourism a marketing channel with a measurable return.
We could not evidence it. The figures that would demonstrate it are foreign-customer sales at the domestic retailers, and we could not confirm those from a primary source. So this article reports the arrivals as fact and stops there. The mechanism stays a hypothesis, and we would rather hand you a gap than fill it with a plausible-sounding number.
Also absent, for the same reason: the claim that Europe overtook North America on a half-year basis, a shift in the Chinese share from 69 to 23 per cent, foreign-customer growth rates at Olive Young, Daiso and Musinsa, and the Korea Beauty Festival. Each appeared in an earlier draft and none survived a check against a primary document.
What we take from this
Europe is growing quickly from a base small enough that no European country reaches the top three destinations. Tourism has cleared its 2019 level, and we cannot yet show what that does to cosmetics revenue. Neither of those is as strong as the American case in part one, which rests on channel structure rather than on growth rates.
Taken together, though, the demand picture is broadening rather than concentrating. That is the part we think matters, and it is the basis for the view at the top of this article — a view about demand, stated as a view, with the valuation work we did not do disclosed rather than implied.
If you are working out how to act on any of this, the mechanics are in how foreign investors buy Korean stocks.
Sources
We take facts from these and write our own sentences. Every figure here comes from a government agency. We link to a document only where we hold its exact address — for the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety statistics we have the agency and the period but not a stable document URL, so that entry carries the citation without a link rather than a link to a departmental front page that would not get you there.
- Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, export release, English edition. First-half 2026 cosmetics exports of 7.0 billion dollars, up 27.3 per cent, with Europe among the regions driving the increase; the United States largest destination for a second year while exports to China continued to fall.
- Korea Customs Service, K-cosmetics export announcement. Imports of Korean cosmetics across major European markets including Poland, the Czech Republic, the United Kingdom and France grew between 30 and 300 per cent through 2025.
- Korea Tourism Organization, arrival statistics published 23 July 2026, available through the Korea Tourism Data Lab statistics portal. 10.7 million foreign visitors in the first half of 2026, up 21.3 per cent year on year and 26.9 per cent above the first half of 2019. By origin: China 3.21 million, Japan 1.95 million, Taiwan 1.15 million, United States 0.81 million. Against the first half of 2019, Taiwan up 188.4 per cent and the United States up 168.6 per cent.
- Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, quarterly cosmetics export statistics, first quarter of 2026. United States 620 million dollars or 19.8 per cent, China 470 million dollars or 15.0 per cent, Japan 290 million dollars or 9.3 per cent. Cited without a link, per the note above.
Corrections
None yet. If you can point to a primary document that contradicts anything above, we will correct it and say what changed.
Disclosure. The author holds no position in any company or brand named in this article, and none in the Korean cosmetics sector, as of 4 August 2026. This article is general information and analysis about export data, tourism statistics and demand conditions. It is not investment advice, not a recommendation to buy or sell any security, and not a forecast of any price or index level. The section headed Editor’s opinion is comment: it argues a view, states that no valuation work sits behind it, and we fence it off from the sourced material for that reason. We have not tailored anything here to your circumstances, and only a qualified adviser in your jurisdiction can do that. We are not registered as an investment adviser in any jurisdiction, and this site has no commercial relationship with any company, exchange or research provider named above. See the Editorial & Sourcing Policy and Disclaimer.