(Yicai Global) Feb. 18 -- France’s L’Oréal, Japan’s Shisheido Group and many of the world’s other cosmetics giants logged double-digit profit growth last year on the back of soaring sales in China.

L’Oréal scored record high profit of CNY44.8 billion (USD7.1 billion) in 2021 on revenue of CNY234.7 billion (USD37 billion), the Paris-based firm said in its latest earnings report on Feb. 10. Its sales’ growth rate was 16.1 percent, the highest in 14 years.

Much of this was China driven. Revenue from North Asia, where China is a core market, jumped 18.6 percent year on year to CNY71.7 billion (USD11.3 billion). L’Oréal also became the first group with a turnover of over CNY10 billion (USD1.5 billion) on Alibaba Group Holding’s e-commerce platform Tmall during the Nov. 11 online shopping gala, it said.

Shiseido reported an almost tripling of profit to CNY2.3 billion (USD363 million), close to a five-year high. It is a big turnaround from 2020 when the Chuo-based company logged losses of CNY645 million (USD102 million). Revenue, meanwhile, jumped 12 percent to CNY57.1 billion.

Shiseido’s China sales soared 16.5 percent in 2021 from 2020 to CNY15.1 billion (USD2.4 billion), accounting for 26.6 percent of the group’s total revenue, almost the same as that of Japan.

China’s cosmetics sales amounted to CNY402.6 billion (USD63.6 billion) last year, up 14 percent from a year earlier, according to data released by consulting service AskCI Research today. China is now the world’s largest market for many big brands including France’s L'Oréal, Yves Saint Laurent, Lancome and Kérastase as well was the US’ SkinCeuticals and Kiehl’s.

South Korea’s Amorepacific recorded a 13-fold leap in profit to CNY1.6 billion (USD252.8 million), due to excellent duty-free sales in South Korea and a bigger presence overseas. Revenue climbed 8 percent to CNY28.2 billion, of which China sales accounted for 70 percent of the Asia total.

Other makeup giants such as France’s Estée Lauder and LVMH Moet Hennessy Lous Vuitton as well as the US’ Coty also reported double-digit growth.

Editor: Kim Taylor