A Matsumoto Kiyoshi store in Japan. (Photo: japantravel.com)

Vietnam’s Lotus Food Group and Matsumoto Kiyoshi Holdings signed an agreement on Monday to set up the Matsumoto Kiyoshi Vietnam joint venture.

The cosmetics and drugstore chain in Vietnam is expected to meet Japanese standards in the next 3-5 years, with hundreds of stores across the country.

Established in 1932, Matsumoto Kiyoshi is a famous Japanese drugstore chain that boasts a massive selection of goods, including medicine, makeup, cosmetics, mouth hygiene products, supplements, among others. Meanwhile, Lotus Food Group has a distribution network reaching almost all of the 63 Vietnamese localities.

Japanese products currently account for 17% of foreign cosmetics’ sales in Vietnam, following those from the Republic of Korea and Europe.