HONG KONG (Yonhap News) ― Woongjin Coway Co., Korea’s biggest water purifier maker, will focus on the high-end cosmetics market in China this year, in a bid to tap into the world’s fastest growing cosmetics market, company officials said Wednesday.

Woongjin Coway’s wholly owned unit in China is currently engaged in the cosmetics and home appliance businesses. Its cosmetic sales in China were estimated at 240 million yuan ($38 million) last year, up 16 percent from a year earlier.

Revenues from Woongjin Coway’s cosmetics business will continue to show robust growth this year, largely driven by its high-end cosmetics line “Beauty of Fermentation,” which was launched in May 2011, they said.

The proportion of mid and high-end brands, including Cellart, Beauty of Fermentation and Ruhen, out of its China revenue increased to 44 percent in 2011 from 37 percent in 2010, according to the officials.

In the first half of 2012, the company plans to dispose of its two low-end brands, Hebeir and Meiqing, as it seeks to strengthen its profit structure in China.

Woongjin Coway will launch new organic products this year as well as exclusive products targeting home shopping TV channel viewers.

In 2010, Woongjin Coway launched a cosmetics business, 11 years after its parent company, Woongjing Group, was forced to leave the market amid the Asian financial crisis.