Shiseido shifts focus to quality products that are made in Japan

Jun 11 (Asahi) - Cosmetics giant Shiseido Co. is relocating its production facilities back to Japan in seeking to win customers with a “made-in-Japan” brand.

Buoyed by the weakening yen, Shiseido is looking to bolster its exports from Japan to various areas around the world as fewer foreign visitors can travel to Japan to buy their products.

Shiseido unveiled its Fukuoka Kurume Factory to reporters on May 26, which started operations in April in Kurume, Fukuoka Prefecture. The facility can make 140 million units of skincare products from its core Elixir line and other lines annually.

Products manufactured there are sent out not only to Japanese consumers but also to those in China and other Asian nations from nearby Hakata Port. Profits linked to the plant are expected to rise due to the recent drop in the yen.

Shiseido in December 2019 opened its Nasu Factory in Otawara, Tochigi Prefecture--its first new facility in Japan in 36 years. The Osaka Ibaraki Factory was next created in Ibaraki, Osaka Prefecture, in December 2020, before the latest Fukuoka Kurume Factory opened.

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