Every product in the buying list is priced through the same chain. This page sets it out so any figure on a product page can be reconstructed from first principles.
| Step | Basis | Source |
|---|---|---|
| FOB Korea | Wholesale unit cost, taken as 50% of international RRP where a direct quote is unavailable | Q-depot published bulk supply rates of 47–53% off RRP on orders above USD 10,000 per brand |
| + Freight | USD 0.90 per kg, weight-rated | Derived: LCL Korea→Malé at ~USD 260/CBM against a cosmetics density of roughly 290 kg per CBM. Confirmed weight-rated on a real Q-depot carton (60 units, 11.5 kg gross, 5.29 kg volumetric) |
| = CIF | Cost, insurance and freight at the Malé border | — |
| + Import duty | 0% on skincare, suncare, hair and body. 5% on colour cosmetics and lines classified “luxury” | Maldives National Tariff 2026, pp. 163–164, MFN column. Korea has no FTA with the Maldives, so it takes MFN |
| + Revenue fee | 1% of customs value | Export-Import Act 31/79. Sources conflict on whether the base is duty or customs value; the conservative reading is used |
| + Clearing | 2% of CIF — agent, MPL port charges, delivery order, inland | MPL Tariff Book V.02.2026; the delivery-order fee is legally capped at MVR 385.50 for LCL |
| × Effective FX | MVR 19.37 per USD | 35% of dollar needs at the official MVR 15.42, the balance at the parallel MVR 21.50. Converting at the peg alone would understate landed cost by about a third |
| = Landed cost | In rufiyaa, on the shelf | — |
| Shelf price | 0.91 × international RRP converted at the official rate, rounded up to MVR 5 | Verified: Maldivian K-beauty clears at 0.61–1.26× Olive Young US retail at the official rate, median near parity. Cross-checked against 911 live Maldivian shelf prices, median MVR 401 |
No GST is levied at the Maldivian border. The 8% arises only on the onward domestic sale, which materially reduces the working-capital requirement against a border-VAT regime.
Sea freight from Korea is charged by weight and volume. A 30 ml serum at USD 20 weighs about 90 g gross; a 500 ml toner at USD 22 weighs about 550 g. Both occupy a slot on the shelf and in the container, but one earns six times the margin per gram carried.
The customs data proves the point independently. Across everything the Maldives imported in chapter 33 in 2025, sunscreen landed at MVR 441 per kg and “luxury” make-up at MVR 383 per kg, while lotions came in at MVR 86 and hand cleanser at MVR 22. Korean-origin skincare specifically landed at MVR 818 per kg — two to nine times the density of the market average, because Korea supplies the concentrated end of the category.
Lighter usually means cheaper, and cheaper kills it. Modelled: a 125 g average unit holding its MVR 335 price returns a 40.5% project IRR. The same 125 g range priced 20% lower returns 8.1% — worse than doing nothing. Value density is necessary but not sufficient: the absolute shelf price still has to carry rent and payroll, which are fixed in rufiyaa. Go lighter without going cheaper, or do not go.
An earlier version of this page said bulk liquids were rejected because freight destroys their margin. Checked against our own freight derivation, that overstates it: sea freight on a 500 ml shampoo is about USD 0.45 a unit, roughly 3% of shelf price — a two-point drag, not a margin-killer.
The real case against bulk liquids is different and stronger. They consume scarce Malé shelf space that costs MVR 54 a square foot a month; they tie up working capital in a business whose cash constraint is working capital; and they compete head-on with mass brands already landed in the market at low prices — one Maldivian seller already retails a Korean hair tonic at exactly the Olive Young list price, meaning zero import uplift. Ampoules, sticks and premium hand creams have no such comparator on any Maldivian shelf. That is the argument, and it survives scrutiny in a way the freight claim did not.