China Personal Care Packaging Market - Growth, Trends, and Forecasts (2023 - 2028)

The Chinese personal care packaging market is expected to register a CAGR of 6.72% during the forecast period of 2022-2027. The personal care market in China has been one of the fastest-growing sectors in the last few years, benefitting from an increasingly engaged consumer base, which is augmenting the growth of the market studied. In a background of diminishing economic growth and a tangible downturn in the willingness of Chinese consumers to spend, China's cosmetic sector is a bright point that has maintained impressive growth. For instance, according to China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the retail sales of cosmetics in China amounted to CNY 30.99 billion in November 2021.

Key Highlights

• According to the same study, the cosmetics industry witnessed a significant decrease in revenue during the first months of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which generally affected consumer goods sales. However, due to China's effective pandemic management, the retail trade value quickly recovered. In addition, the changing attitude among men toward skincare fosters the booming of the men's cosmetics market in China.
• The country has quickly gained on the United States in beauty sales and is set to overtake it by 2023, even if growth slows. Consumer spending on cosmetics and personal care products continues to grow, which is facilitating the trend toward adopting processed, packaged, and expensive products. Skincare and decorative cosmetics are growing soundly, with facial care and medical skincare witnessing a robust demand. Moreover, growth potential is also provided by anti-aging products and those intended to protect against environmental pollution.
• According to Tmall Innovation Center, the young women of the post-90s generation have become the most crucial consumer group driving growth in China's cosmetic sector. The post-90s generation has independent consuming power and a simultaneous surge of interest in beauty and skincare amongst this demographic has translated into significant growth. This is aiding the growth of the cosmetic packaging market in the country.
• To cater to the increasing demand, the players in the industry are strengthening their manufacturing capabilities in the country to tackle new opportunities. For instance, in 2020, Albea, a cosmetic packaging company, began the operations of its new manufacturing facility in China on the lookout to capitalize on the growing e-commerce opportunities. Also, in July 2021, AptarGroup Inc. and YAT, an online skincare solutions company, collaborated to develop an innovative range of products and services for the skincare market.
• However, the investments involved in developing the design for new packaging are significantly higher as the costs go up in changing the product design according to the current market trends and consumer requirements. This is challenging the growth in the market as product vendors may stick to their existing packaging designs in the wake of incurring higher costs associated with the change of design and production costs.

China Personal Care Packaging Market Trends

The Plastic Bottles and Containers Segment is Expected to Hold the Major Market Share

• Plastic is a prominent element in cosmetic packaging due to its low cost, flexibility, lightweight, durability, and other factors. Numerous cosmetic products come in plastic bottles and containers, owing to the material's easy molding, structuring, design capability, and protection. In the cosmetics industry, plastic bottles and containers are preferred forms of primary packaging and have held a major prominent share in the market for half a decade.
• The companies in the region are strategically planning to reduce the impact of plastic bottles on the environment by using different element compositions. For instance, in November 2020, Loreal developed a carbon-neutral plastic bottle of polyethylene from recycled and captured carbon emissions, which the company hopes to commercialize in four years. Also, in June 2021, L'Oreal developed the world's first cosmetic bottle made entirely of recycled plastic with Carbios' enzymatic technology. Carbios' technology, which was a pioneer in developing biotech solutions for the recycling of PET plastics, provides the path for creating new goods composed entirely of recycled materials produced through its enzymatic process. It has the advantage of being compatible with all forms of PET, including transparent, colored, opaque, multilayer, and eternally recyclable.
• Manufacturers prefer PET over other plastic packaging products, as it has a minimum loss of raw material during the manufacturing process when compared to other plastic products. Its recyclability and the feature to add multiple colors and designs augment it to become a preferred choice. Refillable products have emerged with the rising consumer awareness for the environment and have acted in creating demand for the product.
• Moreover, Colgate-Palmolive, a prominent consumer products company based in New York, committed to 100% recyclability of packaging across all its product categories by 2025 and achieving a 25% recycled content currently from plastic packaging. L'Oreal, a cosmetics brand, is working toward ensuring that all its plastic packaging will be rechargeable, refillable, recyclable, or compostable by 2025.
• Moreover, major brand owners, such as L'Oreal, P&G, and Unilever, have already announced their interests toward significantly increasing and, in some cases, doubling the current tonnage of post-consumer recycled (PCR) resin in their packaging by 2020, for which PET would be an apt resin type.

The Oral Care Segment is Expected to Witness a High Market Growth

• Oral health acts as an integral part of consumers' increasing desire to lead healthier lifestyles, resulting in industry growth. Rising awareness of oral health and an improved understanding of the underlying causes of oral issues also contribute to the surge. The oral care segment is dominated by a handful of players, resulting in aggressive competition in terms of packaging innovation. As a result, companies are progressively looking for ways to differentiate themselves.
• Several oral care products include toothpaste, mouthwashes and rinses, toothbrushes, and dental floss. Toothpaste is the most consumed product in the oral care segment. Generally, most toothpaste tubes are made from plastic laminate sheets.
• While toothpaste tubes are being utilized by millions of consumers every day, the conventional tubes could not be recycled so far as their multilayer construction poses a challenge for recycling facilities. This trend is about to change as several companies in the market are switching to recyclable solutions. For instance, in May 2021, Unilever's oral care brands, including Signal, Pepsodent, and Closeup, announced plans to convert their entire toothpaste portfolio to recyclable tubes by 2025.
• Also, in December 2020, Procter & Gamble Oral Care launched its latest packaging innovation across its toothpaste brands, Oral-B, Crest, and Blend-a-med. To introduce the correct solution and make its toothpaste tubes more sustainable, Procter & Gamble held discussions with different HDPE tube suppliers and has already formed an agreement with Albea to start utilizing its proprietary Greenleaf Generation 2 tube technology, which enables the tubes to be recyclable wherever collection schemes are present.

China Personal Care Packaging Market Competitor Analysis

The Chinese personal care packaging market is moderately competitive with the presence of major players like Amcor PLC, Silgan Holdings Inc., and Albea. The established players in the industry are leveraging their manufacturing capabilities research and development ecosystem to drive innovation and sustain their competitive position in the market.

• August 2021 - Amcor PLC, a global player in developing and producing responsible packaging, announced its plans to build two new advanced innovation centers. The new facilities in Ghent, Belgium, and Jiangyin, China, will welcome customers in mid-2022, with full build-out over the next two years. The total investment is expected to be approximately USD 35 million. The broader network will allow the company's customers globally to tap into its deep material science expertise and packaging development capabilities.
• June 2020 - Silgan Holdings Inc., a supplier of rigid packaging solutions for consumer goods products, announced its acquisition of the dispensing business of the Albea Group. This business is a leading global supplier of highly engineered pumps, sprayers, and foam dispensing solutions to major branded consumer goods product companies, primarily in the beauty and personal care markets.

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