Country business brief

Doing business in Bangladesh
from South Korea.

Beyond RMG: K-beauty distribution, textiles and footwear, Korean-brand electronics and automotive partnerships.

Research checked 1 November 2026. Each observation keeps its own date.

Discuss Your Market Assessment Compare Entry Models

A practical answer

Where is the business connection?

Korean beauty brands, manufacturers, distributors, apparel suppliers and technology partners assessing Bangladesh customers and operating models.

Use the documented activity below to choose a research direction. The companies named are examples from public sources, not Mingdao clients, endorsements or a complete investor register.

PH Creative proposed project investment

US$24.03m

6 April 2026 agreement; not cosmetics market size

View original source

This measure retains the source’s currency, period and scope. It is not a country FDI ranking, market share or return forecast.

Documented activity

Who is doing what?

Brand-authorised sales channel

COSRX and K-beauty distribution

COSRX headquarters’ seller list identifies S&M Distribution for Bangladesh. The Korean embassy’s 19–20 June 2026 K-Goods Festa also promoted cosmetics and food. These support a consumer-goods channel assessment, not a measured Korean cosmetics market share or manufacturing FDI claim.

COSRX headquarters / Web Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Bangladesh / Web

Corporate manufacturing locations

Youngone Bangladesh manufacturing

Seoul-headquartered Youngone lists garment, textile and footwear manufacturing in Chattogram and Dhaka. This provides a broader manufacturing picture than garments alone, without assuming that every group product is made at every Bangladesh location.

Youngone Corporation / Web

Local-partner manufacturing and distribution

Korean brands / Fair Group

Fair Group describes local manufacturing and distribution relationships with Hyundai and Samsung. Hyundai independently lists Fair Technology among Bangladesh distributors. These sources establish brand and partner links; they do not establish Korean equity ownership of Fair Group.

Fair Group / Web Hyundai Motor Company / Web

Investment agreement, 6 April 2026

PH Creative camping products

BEPZA announced a US$24.03 million agreement for tents, camping equipment, accessories and bags. It is a proposed diversified-manufacturing project, not evidence that the full amount was disbursed or a semiconductor factory was commissioned.

BEPZA / Web

Official annual snapshot / FY 2024–25

Import payments from South Korea

Bangladesh Bank's reported goods import payments, with the report's coverage adjustments. A dated starting point for supplier and market-entry research; this is not live trade data or foreign direct investment.

US$1,202.8 million

FY 2024–25 · compared with US$902.9 million in FY 2023–24

Read the Bangladesh Bank country table / save PDF

Source, scope and how to use these figures

Source: Bangladesh Bank, Annual Import Payments of Goods and Services 2024–25, Table 3.6, printed pages 1205–1207. These reported payments can differ from customs-recorded merchandise trade because of timing, valuation and coverage.

Important report notes: EPZ banking payments are assigned to individual countries from FY 2021–22; specified unclassified FDI-related goods are included by country; government-project and Rooppur project imports enter the country series from FY 2024–25. Coverage changes can affect comparisons, so no like-for-like growth claim is calculated here.

The comparison covers selected markets with guides, not every supplier country. Bars compare displayed values, not shares of Bangladesh's imports. Figures are not sales forecasts or investment returns; company metrics elsewhere can use different periods and measures.

Source checked 3 November 2026. Figures are a dated annual snapshot, not a live feed or a claim of the latest available observation. The PDF is a large official report; download on a suitable connection if needed.

Original Bangladesh Bank PDF (opens in a new tab)

SHA-256: 656078a3c976d07e2b8a3e49391d558b28c07da704f7b5ccb1473c42765c8027

Explore product-level import research · Discuss a market assessment

Mingdao analysis / models to test

Turn the connection into a business model.

For cosmetics, compare brand-authorised import/distribution with local packaging or contract production.
For apparel, textiles and footwear, assess buyer qualification and technical supplier opportunities.
For electronics and vehicles, distinguish licensing, assembly, distribution and foreign equity.

Choose the customer, local activity, investing or contracting entity and responsible partner first. A brand relationship can involve licensing or distribution without foreign equity; a proposed project can remain unbuilt.

Follow the relevant industry.

Links follow the documented company activities in this brief. They do not claim exclusive opportunities for one nationality.

What should you validate next?

Confirm authorisation directly with each cosmetics brand; a retailer claim alone is insufficient.
Build a SKU-level landed-cost, shelf-life and distributor-margin model.
Check current product classification, labelling and applicable import/quality requirements.
No independently verified current Bangladesh K-beauty market-size or Korean market-share figure is asserted here.

Build an evidence file before deciding.

Prepare customer interviews or orders, product specifications, partner ownership records, the intended local activity, a cost model and the questions still unresolved. Record who will verify each assumption and when.

Open the preparation checklist

Read the original evidence.

Government and company disclosures are linked below. Company statements are attributed to their issuer; historical milestones are not presented as current output. Published research does not replace project due diligence.

COSRX headquarters / Web