South Korea's cosmetics exports last year reached new highs, topping 10 trillion won for the first time.
According to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, the country's cosmetics exports last year increased by 21.3 percent from the year before, to just under 10.6 trillion won, or at last year's rate, roughly 9.1 billion U.S. dollars.
Korea imported less than a tenth of that amount, so the trade surplus exceeded 9 trillion won for the 10th year in a row.
That's well over 7-and-a-half billion US dollars.
South Korea is the world's third largest cosmetics exporter after France and the United States.
Cosmetics, in fact, are a bigger export for Korea than home appliances, pharmaceuticals and mobile phones.
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