Raw materials can be called the "chips" of cosmetics. However, as the world's second largest consumer of cosmetics, 80% of my country's cosmetics raw materials are imported. This has led to the long-term dilemma of local cosmetics being "stuck" by international giants in the research and development and innovation of raw materials. It has also restricted the development of local cosmetics to a certain extent. develop.
As local companies pay more and more attention to raw materials and increase investment in research and development, Chinese raw materials have begun to rise. Not only are they no longer controlled by others in some fields, they are even among the best in the world.
Take hyaluronic acid as an example. More than 30 years ago, my country could only rely on imports. But now, the production and sales of domestically produced hyaluronic acid rank first in the world, accounting for 80% of the world's market share.
In fact, the development and growth of hyaluronic acid is just a microcosm of the rise of Chinese raw materials. 75%, 80%, 90%... These gratifying market shares all confirm that in some fields, the technology, output and quality of my country's raw materials have reached the international advanced level, and are constantly improving the market share of Chinese raw materials and even domestic brands. voice on the international stage.
Hyaluronic acid
Total sales account for more than 80% of the world's
Hyaluronic acid, also known as "hyaluronic acid", is a chain polymer acidic mucopolysaccharide with good water retention, lubricity, viscoelasticity, biodegradability and biocompatibility, and is widely used in cosmetics.
Hyaluronic acid originated in the United States, but it rose and grew in China. Due to its late start, China's hyaluronic acid production was low, expensive and of uneven quality in the early days. With the hard work of the scientific research team headed by Ling Peixue and Guo Xueping, my country's hyaluronic acid production process has gradually matured, rewriting the tradition that only chicken combs, The history of hyaluronic acid extraction from cow eyes and other animals. Since then, China's hyaluronic acid industry has begun to rise and has become a major producer and application country of hyaluronic acid in the world.
The "Sterile Grade Sodium Hyaluronate Industry Research Report" released by Frost & Sullivan pointed out that China is the world's largest producer and seller of hyaluronic acid raw materials, and China's hyaluronic acid fermentation technology level, output and quality have reached At the internationally advanced level, China's hyaluronic acid market sales will increase from 2.65 billion yuan in 2017 to 3.9 billion yuan in 2022. In the next five years, China's hyaluronic acid raw material market will maintain a high compound growth rate of 8.4%.
"The world's hyaluronic acid depends on China, and Chinese hyaluronic acid depends on Shandong." The "2021 Global and China Hyaluronic Acid (HA) Industry Market Research Report" shows that more than 30 years ago, China's hyaluronic acid could only rely on imports, but since 2018, China's hyaluronic acid raw materials have accounted for 80% of the world's share, and the world's hyaluronic acid The top five companies in sales of hyaluronic acid raw materials are all Chinese companies, among which Shandong-based Huaxi Biotech holds 44%. At the same time, leading companies such as Freda, Focus Biotech, Fufeng Biotech, and Anhua Biotech are all gathered in Shandong. As the "World Hyaluronic Acid Valley" lands in Shandong, China's hyaluronic acid industry will enter a new stage.
"Hyaluronic acid is a successful example of domestic raw materials breaking foreign price monopoly and technology monopoly, benefiting the global beauty industry." said Guo Xiaofeng, senior product manager in the industry.
Vitamins
Vitamin C production accounts for 75% of global production
In cosmetics, the most widely used vitamins include vitamins A, E, C and panthenol. It is worth mentioning that my country is a major exporter of vitamin C and vitamin E.
According to the "2023-2028 China Vitamin Industry Market Prospects and Investment Strategic Planning Analysis Report" released by the Qianzhan Industry Research Institute, vitamin C is one of the largest vitamin varieties in terms of production and sales in the world, and its manufacturers are mainly concentrated in China. In 2021, my country's vitamin C production reached 213,000 tons, accounting for more than 75% of global production, and more than 70% of the production was exported to developed countries such as the United States, Japan, and Germany.
Due to its poor stability, vitamin C is not easily absorbed by the skin, so it is often prepared into vitamin C derivatives for cosmetics. Currently commonly used vitamin C derivatives include ascorbyl glucoside, vitamin C ethyl ether, magnesium ascorbyl phosphate, etc., which are commonly used whitening agents in cosmetics.
Among them, vitamin C ethyl ether has excellent whitening properties and high stability, and is widely used in cosmetics. According to a report by Guojin Securities, the production of vitamin C ethyl ether by the three major manufacturers, Shanghai Bilai Chemical, Sbaico, and Shanghai Jiakai, accounts for approximately 40% of the world's share. Among them, Shanghai Bilai Chemical is the world's largest manufacturer of vitamin C ethyl ether, with an annual output of 200 tons.
Vitamin E is a fat-soluble vitamin that has the functions of scavenging free radicals, improving immunity and anti-aging. It is also known as tocopherol. It is one of the most important antioxidants and has been widely used in the field of cosmetics.
The current global demand for vitamin E is about 60,000-80,000 tons. From the supply side, the annual global production of vitamin E is about 80,000 tons. Among them, the four major manufacturers control more than 80% of the global vitamin E supply, namely foreign countries. DSM and BASF, as well as China's Xinhecheng and Zhejiang Pharmaceutical, have formed an oligopoly pattern in the industry.
Sunscreen
Kesi shares account for 30% of the global market share
In recent years, as women's awareness of sun protection continues to increase, sun protection cosmetics have become a "must-have", their "rigid need" attributes have become prominent, and their consumption has become more frequent.
Euromonitor statistics show that the global sunscreen cosmetics market reached US$10.84 billion in 2020. It is expected that the global sunscreen cosmetics market will reach US$15.543 billion in 2025, with an average annual compound growth rate of 6.88% from 2021 to 2025.
The booming sunscreen market has also expanded the market demand for sunscreen agents. In terms of sunscreens, my country already has leading companies, such as Cosi. As one of the world's leading manufacturers of chemical sunscreens, its sales of chemical sunscreens in 2022 will be 16,615.15 tons, almost accounting for the global sunscreen market share Nearly 30%.
According to the 2022 financial report, Cosi's sunscreen products have covered the main chemical sunscreen categories currently on the market, and core customers include internationally renowned companies such as DSM, Beiersdorf, Procter & Gamble, L'Oreal, Merck, and Johnson & Johnson.
Plant extracts
Exports account for 80% of the industry’s total revenue
Plant resources with Chinese characteristics are the treasure trove of China’s beauty industry. According to the "White Paper on China's Plant Extraction Industry", at present, more than 300 plant species are mainly used for industrial extraction in my country, and they are widely used in health care products, food, medicines, cosmetics and other fields. In the "Catalogue of Used Cosmetic Raw Materials (2021 Edition)", there are more than 3,400 kinds of plant raw materials, accounting for one-third of the catalog.
Relying on its resource advantages and years of technology accumulation, my country has now become one of the most important suppliers of plant extracts in the world. The export of plant extract products accounts for about 80% of the industry's total revenue, mainly sold to Europe, the United States and other Asian countries. area.
As consumers pursue naturalness, safety, efficacy and other aspects, plant resources with Chinese characteristics are becoming the raw materials sought after by beauty brands, and are strongly supported by national industrial policies. The "Regulations on the Supervision and Administration of Cosmetics" even states that "encourage and support the use of modern science and technology, combined with my country's traditional advantageous projects and characteristic plant resources to research and develop cosmetics." Based on the clear-cut support of the Industry Basic Law, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong, Shandong and other provinces and cities have also introduced support policies based on local conditions. For example, the "Implementation Opinions of Shandong Province on Promoting the High-Quality Development of the Cosmetics Industry" clearly states that "peony, rose, seaweed, burdock, Ganoderma lucidum, ginkgo, and honeysuckle" are local characteristic plant resources, and encourages companies to increase investment in research and development.
Guo Xiaofeng is full of confidence in the application of natural raw materials, including plant extracts, in the beauty industry. "Thousands of years of influence of traditional Chinese medicine have given natural raw materials in China a resource advantage, a policy advantage, and a mental advantage. This is the case for foreign companies." An incomparable advantage.”
Lin Chaodong, founder of Guangzhou Youke Biotechnology Co., Ltd., also said that our country is vast and rich in resources, especially in plants and Chinese herbal medicine raw materials. "Chinese cosmetic raw material companies, if they can make good use of China's unique Chinese herbal medicine origin resource advantages and If we have cultural advantages, we will have more possibilities to win in the competition with international raw materials."
Recombinant collagen
Break through technical bottlenecks and write a new chapter
Collagen is a polymer material with excellent biological activity and is an ideal raw material for cosmetics and medical beauty. The only drawback is that because animal extraction is the main way to obtain collagen, the product has risks such as immune rejection and sensitization. The industry Development is therefore limited.
It was not until 2000 that collagen reached an inflection point in its development. Chinese scientist Fan Daidi achieved a technological breakthrough and opened a new era of recombinant collagen. Recombinant collagen is collagen prepared through DNA recombinant technology. Since then, with the help of companies such as Juzi Bio and Jinbo Bio, my country has achieved large-scale mass production of recombinant collagen.
A senior person in the industry bluntly said that China is the only country in the world to break through technological bottlenecks, independently develop recombinant collagen and achieve large-scale mass production, far surpassing international raw material companies.
According to Frost & Sullivan's prediction, the characteristics of collagen make it have broad market prospects in the field of skin care, and it accurately meets the needs of anti-aging. The market size is expected to reach 81 billion yuan in 2026, surpassing hyaluronic acid to become the largest professional skin care raw material. Element. This undoubtedly gives the recombinant collagen track, and even the Chinese cosmetics market, greater room for imagination.
Surfactant
Used in 90% of domestic personal care products
Surfactants, also known as amphiphilic compounds, have fixed hydrophilic and lipophilic groups, which can be directionally arranged on the surface of the solution. They play the roles of cleaning, wetting, emulsifying, dispersing, foaming, and solubilizing in cosmetics. Mainly used in daily chemical products.
Many industry insiders said that China also has advantages in many basic raw materials such as surfactants. Over 90% of the surfactants contained in personal care products on the market are produced domestically.
This is also supported by data. According to statistics from the China Surfactant Industry Alliance, the country's total surfactant production will reach 4.262 million tons in 2022, and sales will be 4.209 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 3.6% and 2.1% respectively. Euromonitor data shows that the surface consumption of the domestic beauty and personal care market will reach 455,400 tons in 2021, a year-on-year decrease of 0.01%, and the compound annual growth rate from 2016 to 2021 is 4.6%. In other words, domestic surfactant production has reached a large scale and can fully meet the needs of cosmetics production.
Among them, as one of the leading companies in the research and production of surfactants in China, Tianci Materials specializes in mild amino acid surfactants. Well-known beauty companies such as Procter & Gamble, L'Oreal, Nivea, Colgate, Blue Moon, Beiersdorf, and Shanghai Jahwa , are all its core customers and have certain leading advantages in the field of high-end personal care.
The rise of local raw materials boosts the upgrade of domestic beauty products
Cosmetics Observer" found that China has the right to speak in the above-mentioned raw material fields mainly due to three reasons:
One is technology-driven. Taking hyaluronic acid as an example, the key reason why my country can catch up with the United States and become a major hyaluronic acid country is that China has achieved a technological breakthrough from extraction to fermentation. Coincidentally, it is also relying on technological breakthroughs that China has achieved changes in the collagen industry. , moving from animal-derived collagen to recombinant collagen. There is no doubt that technological progress is the root driving force for the development of my country's raw material industry.
The second is policy agitation. Plant extraction and synthetic biological raw materials have received strong support from policies. Huatai Securities also pointed out in the research report that raw materials are an important link in determining the differentiation of cosmetic efficacy. The new efficacy policy has made the importance of upstream raw materials more and more prominent, further promoting the development of raw material companies.
The third is cost advantage. "For some raw materials, foreign countries actually have production technology, but they have not formed an industrial cluster." Guo Xiaofeng took vitamins as an example. Vitamins are indispensable cosmetic raw materials, but the main output comes from my country. "We have advantages in supply chain and production costs" .
Mei Haiping, chairman and technical director of Huzhou Zhexing Biotechnology Co., Ltd., also holds the same view. He pointed out that most raw materials are technologically at par with those at home and abroad, and “anything that can be produced on a large scale can ultimately be produced domestically with cost. Take advantage of the international market." In his view, it is precisely for this reason that international cosmetics companies will gradually begin to localize the procurement of raw materials, "because on the premise that the quality is similar, local procurement has a cost advantage."
"High-quality raw materials can provide good support for the formula system and promote the realization of independent high-quality products." The above-mentioned industry veterans said that only with the rise of raw materials can brands move towards high-end and internationalization.
However, compared with international companies, there are still some problems that need to be overcome when it comes to local raw materials.
Guo Xiaofeng pointed out that my country's raw material industry started late and the industry clusters are more extensive. Therefore, there is a gap in the quality of some raw materials. "It needs to be further refined and the quality improved."
In Mei Haiping's view, the development of the domestic raw material industry should be carried out simultaneously in two directions. First, abandon traditional production processes and testing standards, and absorb the world's leading concepts and technologies to improve the quality of raw materials and thereby enhance the safety of products. and stability; the second is to use the advantages of domestic resources to develop raw materials with real effects, rather than relying on hype concepts to fool consumers.
CITIC Securities pointed out in the research report that local raw material companies are still in the early stages of development, and there is still a significant gap between them and international giants. Currently, local raw material companies are actively exploring development paths in the two directions of "expanding multi-category layout" and "expanding product application areas". In the future, it is expected to expand its scale, enhance its strength, and achieve long-term sustainable development. Driven by scientific and technological progress, coupled with the upgraded demands of brands and consumers, the local beauty raw material ecology is rapidly forming, which is expected to promote the rapid and high-quality development of beauty companies.
