HONG KONG (Yonhap News) ― AmorePacific Corp., South Korea’s No. 1 cosmetics manufacturer, will target sales growth of more than 30 percent in China next year as it continues to expand its business there, company officials said Thursday.

AmorePacific officials expected the company’s sales could jump as high as 34 percent on-year to reach 1.4 billion yuan ($221 million) in 2012 from this year’s expected 1.04 billion yuan, largely due to its steady growth in door-to-door sales.

Since 2006, direct selling has fueled growth in China’s cosmetics industry. Door-to-door sales make up 27 percent of AmorePacific sales in China.

With huge growth potential, the Chinese cosmetics market is coveted by foreign makers. Global cosmetics companies, such as Procter & Gamble Co. and the L’Oreal Group, which have strong footholds in the mid-range to high-end segments, have been intensifying their competition in the world’s No. 2 economy.

AmorePacific launched its wholly owned subsidiary in China in 1993 with its masstige brand Mamonde and started to produce the brand in 1997 in order to supply products directly to Chinese consumers. Mamonde grew into the fourth-largest cosmetics brand in the northeastern cities of Shenyang, Harbin and Changchun.

The South Korean maker currently stands as the No. 14 cosmetics company in China. China’s consumers have growing demand for the South Korean cosmetics products, thanks to the South Korean cultural boom in the East Asian region.

The cosmetics market in China is expected to reach 110 billion yuan by 2015.