Impact of Coronavirus (Covid-19) Pandemic on the Cosmetic Ingredients Industry

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic situation has increased sales of personal hygiene and cleansing products such as soaps and skin care products. According to Coherent Market Insights (CMI) and L’Oreal S.A.’s quarterly report published in April 2020, brands such as Kiehl’s, Lancôme, and Helena Rubinstein, which have a large proportion of skincare products outperformed the company’s other luxury brands in the first quarter of 2020. Thus, the skin care segment including commodity brands, and focusing on the personal hygiene and cleansing are expected to driving parameters for the increase in demand for cosmetic ingredients such as antimicrobials, surfactants, emollient, emulsifiers, thickeners, anti-oxidants, and humectants.

COVID-19 has changed the consumer buying pattern and have made consumer conservative, leading to decline in their spending for non-essentials products. Nationwide lockdown, and social distancing measures implemented by leading countries such as India, U.K., Italy, Spain, Russia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Saudi Arabia, has negatively impacted the demand for fragrances and color cosmetics, in these countries. Sales of cosmetics business segment of Kao Corporation decreased by 11.4% in the first quarter of 2020 compared to the first quarter of 2019. Revlon, Inc., a cosmetics company, saw decrease in sales by 18.1% in the first quarter of 2020 as compared to first quarter of 2019. According to Coherent Market Insights (CMI), the premium cosmetics market was valued at US$ 69,768.2 Mn in 2018 and is expected to decrease to US$ 60,110.1 Mn by 2020. A significant decrease in sales of premium cosmetics is expected to certainly impact the demand for colorants, fragrances, emulsifiers, preservatives, and thickeners. Cosmetic Ingredients Market is expected to grow at a pace of 3.7%, post pandemic, as against the previously estimated growth of 4.5% during the forecast period (2020 – 2027), as per CMI analysis.