Oh my deer: South Korean company signs deal to develop deer milk for cosmetics

It will be the first time New Zealand deer milk is supplied for use in the cosmetics and personal care industry.

The partnership has been in the works for over a year and was just formalised with a signing ceremony held in New Zealand. Lee Jung-Hee Lee, CEO of Yuhan, flew down personally for the event.

Exciting partnership

Yuhan plans use the deer milk develop a line of cosmetics, which will include a serum and a moisturiser. According to the company, the ground-breaking new products will be available in South Korean New Origin stores from early 2019.

“This is a very exciting partnership for Pāmu in terms of securing future opportunities for deer milk,” ​says Steve Carden, CEO of Pāmu.

"It is incredibly important that we partner with strategic companies like Yuhan, who are committed to research and development and the commercialisation of products containing unique ingredients such as deer milk,” ​he added.

In response, Lee said: “We value Pāmu’s commitment to the environment, animal welfare, its people, and farming innovation and are excited to formalise this close partnership with them,”​ said Lee.

Genesis of an idea

According to the state-owned farm, the idea of exporting deer milk for cosmetics came from a technologist working on the farm, who had very rough, dry and callused hands from working outdoors in the elements all year round.

However, she discovered how soothing deer milk was for her hands after cleaning filters at the end of deer milking each day. After just two weeks of milking, she claimed that her hands became noticeably softer and her nails were stronger as well.

While the Lee did not go into details on the benefits of deer milk, he said that Pāmu’s deer milk contain a unique combination of properties that he believes will deliver exceptional results to Yuhan’s consumers.

“These products will be a key part of our New Origin portfolio and we are confident they will be highly sought-after by sophisticated buyers,” ​said Lee.

Carden added that these new products are a “direct response” to what consumers are looking for, and that he hopes to extend the partnership with Yuhan to develop a whole portfolio of products in the future.