Health & Beauty

With the continuous improvement of residents' consumption level, the scale of China's cosmetics market has been increasing year by year. According to the retail data of consumer goods released by the National Bureau of Statistics, from 2014 to 2021, the retail sales of cosmetics steadily increased, reaching a maximum of 402.6 billion yuan; Although it dropped to 393.6 billion yuan in 2022, the cosmetics market size is still considerable in 2023 as the market recovers.

In terms of cosmetics import and export trade, customs data shows that in 2022, China's total import of cosmetics products reached 22.39 billion US dollars, a year-on-year decrease of 10.2%; The total export value was 5.72 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 17.8%; The trade deficit was 16.67 billion US dollars, a decrease of 17.0% compared to 2021.

Overall decline in imports

France Leaps to the Top in Import Volume

China's cosmetics imports mainly come from Europe, America, Japan, and South Korea. In 2022, the top five countries or regions in terms of import volume were France, Japan, South Korea, the United States, and the United Kingdom, accounting for 83% of China's total cosmetics imports. It is worth noting that France has replaced Japan as the largest source of cosmetics import in China for the first time, with a year-on-year increase of 0.96% in cosmetics exports to China; Japan, on the other hand, has experienced negative growth in its cosmetics exports to China for the first time since becoming the country's largest cosmetics import market in 2019, with a year-on-year decrease of 9.12%. The countries or regions ranked sixth to tenth are Italy, Belgium, Spain, Germany, and Switzerland, accounting for 10% of China's total cosmetics imports, and this proportion has remained stable in recent years.

Customs data shows that in 2022, China's cosmetics imports showed an overall downward trend compared to 2021, with most of the main cosmetics import sources showing a significant decline in China's cosmetics exports. China is the third largest cosmetics export market in France, second only to the United States and Germany. In the past five years, the growth of France's cosmetics exports to China has continued to slow down, especially compared to 2021, where the growth rate in 2022 decreased from 24.21% to 0.96%. However, France is the only country among the top five sources of cosmetics imports in China that has maintained positive export growth.

China is also the largest cosmetics export market for both Japan and South Korea. According to customs data, Japan and South Korea's exports to China decreased by 9.1% and 34% respectively in 2022, both of which were the first negative growth in nearly five years. Since 2020, China has become the second largest cosmetics export market in the United States, second only to Canada. In 2022, the United States also experienced its first negative growth in cosmetics exports to China in nearly five years, with a year-on-year decrease of 1.2%. The growth rate of cosmetics exports from the above countries to China has continued to slow down or even negative growth. On the one hand, China's consumer demand has declined due to the economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 epidemic; On the other hand, due to the emergence of a group of excellent cosmetics companies in China in recent years, more high-quality and cost-effective domestic cosmetics have entered the market compared to products from Europe, America, Japan, and South Korea, bringing an impact on imported cosmetics.

Most imported beauty and skincare products

From the perspective of imported product categories, the cosmetics category with the largest import volume in China is beauty and skincare products. According to customs data, the import volume of this type of product reached 18.032 billion US dollars in 2022, accounting for 81% of the total import volume of cosmetics, a decrease of 11.2% compared to 2021. Personal care products are the second largest cosmetics import category in China, with a negative growth rate in 2022, a year-on-year decrease of 9.4%. The total import of perfume products was US $1.15 billion, accounting for only 5% of the total import, but with a year-on-year growth of 5.1%. Although the growth rate slowed significantly compared with 2021, it still maintained a positive growth. From the perspective of segmentation, the products with the largest import volume in China are skin cleaning products, perfume and toilet water, lip cosmetics, hair care products and shampoo (shampoo).

Continuous growth in exports

Low concentration ratio of export market

Unlike imports, China's cosmetics export market is relatively scattered. The top five markets in China's export volume in 2022 are the United States, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, Japan, and Thailand, accounting for 50% of China's total cosmetics exports. According to customs data, the United States is the largest market for China's cosmetics exports, accounting for 21.6% of China's total cosmetics exports. In 2022, the export value was 1.24 billion US dollars, an increase of 3.6% year-on-year. Hong Kong, China, and the United Kingdom are China's second and third largest export markets, with exports reaching 742 million US dollars and 363 million US dollars in 2022, respectively, showing negative growth compared to 2021, with a decrease of 3.5% and 2.2%, respectively. Japan and Thailand ranked fourth and fifth respectively, with exports of $340 million and $170 million in 2022, a year-on-year increase of 2.5% and 5.4%. The countries or regions ranked sixth to tenth are Indonesia, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Australia, and the Philippines, accounting for only 13.3% of China's total exports.

Unlike the decline in imports, China's cosmetics exports continued to maintain positive growth in 2022. It is worth noting that since January 2022, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) has successively entered into force for member states. In 2022, the total amount of cosmetics exported from China to RCEP member countries significantly increased from $980 million in 2021 to $1.51 billion, a year-on-year increase of 53.8%, and its proportion in China's total cosmetics exports also increased from 20.2% to 26.4%. From this perspective, RCEP has brought unlimited business opportunities to China's cosmetics industry in terms of exports. Enterprises should seize the opportunity, continue to expand their influence and market share in the region, and further go global.

Perfume export grows rapidly

Similar to imports, China's largest export category in 2022 was beauty and skincare products, with a total value of 2.83 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 13%. The top five export markets were the United States, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, Indonesia, and Japan. Next is personal care products, with exports reaching 2.64 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 21.7%. The top five export markets are the United States, Hong Kong, Japan, the United Kingdom, and Malaysia. The export volume of perfume is the smallest, at 250 million US dollars, but the year-on-year growth is the fastest, reaching 38.6%. The top five export markets are the United States, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates. Among them, the UK and US markets performed particularly well, with year-on-year growth of 71% and 65% respectively, followed closely by the Netherlands, reaching 44%.

From a segmented perspective, among beauty and skincare products, China mainly exports skincare and makeup products. Among them, the export value of makeup products (powder, eye cosmetics, lip cosmetics) reached 1.15 billion US dollars, accounting for 40.6% of the total export value of beauty and skincare products. Among personal care products, hair removal and shaving products have the largest export value, reaching 930 million US dollars, followed by oral care products, reaching 670 million US dollars, body care products and hair care products have export values of 570 million US dollars and 430 million US dollars, respectively.