HONG KONG (Yonhap News) ― AmorePacific Corp., South Korea’s No. 1 cosmetics manufacturer, aims to nearly triple its sales in China by 2015 as the company continues to tap into one of the world’s fastest growing cosmetics markets, company officials said Tuesday.

AmorePacific plans to boost its China sales to $626 million in 2015 from this year’s estimated $230 million, they said.

In 2011, the company’s Chinese sales soared 34 percent on-year to $170 million on the popularity of its flagship brand Laneige as well as its masstige brand Mamonde.

“We believe that China will drive our company’s growth in the future,” a high-ranking AmorePacific official said.

“We will aggressively enter the Chinese market by introducing more brands and increasing distribution channels. We will be actively looking for acquisition targets to expand our business territory.”

China has become one of the most important markets for AmorePacific, as the second-largest cosmetics market in Asia after

Japan continues to grow rapidly.

According to market researcher Euromonitor International, the cosmetics market in China is expected to reach $40.4 billion by 2015.

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 to high-end segments, have been intensifying their competition in the world’s No. 2 economy.

The South Korean maker currently stands as the No. 14 cosmetics company in China. Chinese consumers’ demand for South Korean cosmetics products is growing, thanks to the South Korean cultural boom in the East Asian region. (Yonhap News)