[Conference Exclusive] High Growth Potential of China’s New Cosmetic Ingredient Market Hinges on Regulatory Reform

During Sep. 19th -22nd 2017, the China Association of Fragrance Flavor and Cosmetic Industries (CAFFCI) held its annual conference during which market, regulatory trends and forecasts were revealed. In China the new cosmetic ingredient market is predicted to perform well over the next several years contingent on possible changes in China's regulatory system. With the growing transparency of modern media...

Takehome:

During Sep. 19th -22nd 2017, the China Association of Fragrance Flavor and Cosmetic Industries (CAFFCI) held its annual conference during which market, regulatory trends and forecasts were revealed.
In China the new cosmetic ingredient market is predicted to perform well over the next several years contingent on possible changes in China's regulatory system.

With the growing transparency of modern media, the public has a deeper understanding about cosmetics and ingredients. Consumers tend to spend more time researching the function of cosmetic active ingredients from both an efficacy and safety standpoint. For industry there are pros and cons:

The cons:

Illegal addition of poisonous ingredients, e.g. hydroxyphenol in toner, lead and mercury in foundation, etc., will be publicized and damage enterprise reputation and impact sales

The pros:

The public seeks products with multiple functions which present great opportunities to formulate new products and develop new ingredients. Dr. Mao the vice president of BASF, estimated China would become the largest ingredient market and forecasted a value in excess of 10 billion dollars within the next several years provided proposed regulatory reform could be realized.

At present, new ingredient management in China is relatively strict. According to PCPC, from 2008 to 2016, 10,600 were added to the INCIs. This is in stark contrast to the situation in China, from 1999 to 2014 only 14 new ingredients were approved by CFDA. Although the approval system is designed to ensure safety, it seriously hinders the development of China's cosmetic industry and stymies innovation and improved product efficacy.

Dr. Mao also mentioned that the revision of the new ingredient registration system is currently under discussion. Implementation of risk assessment in which low risk substances would be subject to decreased compliance and registration demands and high risk substances subject to far more stringent controls is currently the likely direction of future regulatory developments.