Bologna: standards assessment Cosmos

At the Sana Fair in Bologna, Organic Monitor organized two workshops on natural cosmetics. The first workshop - Assessmant of Natural and Organic Cosmetic Standards - was given by Judi Beerling (picture), Technical Research Manager. The workshop navigated companies through the maze of natural and organic cosmetic standards, looking specifically at the technical, formulation and ingredient issues involved. The Goal of this workshops was to help cosmetic manufacturers and distributors, product developers, packaging companies or raw material and ingredient companies to learn more about the various organic cosmetic standards, to evaluate the global market for natural and organic cosmetics and to assess future growth potential.

The first workshop started with ICEA (Instituto per la Certificazione Etica e Ambientale) giving precise details of the new finalized Cosmos Standard (developed in conjunction with Ecocert, BDIH, Soil Association etc.) By 2012 there will be two standards: Cosmos Natural on one hand and Cosmos Organic on the other hand. As there is no formal definition of natural cosmetics, except that they are plant based and of natural ingredients, some brands take advantage, like i.e. Body Shop, L’occitane, Lush. They use natural ingredients, but also the bad or synthetic ingredients as well. (Picture: Ricardo Barion from ICEA)

Different standards are confusing, and we need definitely a common standard in the EU. One thing is sure: In the future when you want to produce an organic product it will has to be made from 100 % organic ingredients. Certification will start in 2010 with a three-year transition period. Comparison of standards (BDIH, Ecocert, USA Natural cosmetic standards, Soil association, ICEA and AIAB Italian standard, Natrue etc.) were made and some case studies were discussed.

The second workshop - "Global growth opportunities in the natural and organic cosmetics market" - was given by Amarjit Sahota (picture), the Managing Director of Organic Monitor. Organic Monitor is a specialist in research and consulting, focusing on organic and natural product industries. The workshop evaluated the global market for natural and organic cosmetics and assessed the future growth potentialGlobal sales of natural & organic cosmetics are increasing by over US $ 1 billion a year. Global market size of cosmetics in 2008 was US $ 7.9 billion (only 2 % organic) with a market growth of 15 to 17 %.

Leading regions are North America and Europe (Germany and France). In other regions, most sales are from the Asia-Pacific and Latin America. In Asia, there are no standards so Asian companies are adopting European standards. North America has launched a number of standards in the last 18 months, with Natural Products Association (NPA) currently gaining most popularity. Standards and market entry into the various regions were discussed. Although Asia has a small market for natural cosmetics, it has the largest portion of imports. In contrast, the US has the largest natural cosmetics market but imports represent less than 10 % of total sales.

Different markets were discussed, in which it was showed that Germany has the biggest market in Europe. Why are consumers turning to natural & organic products? Consumers are more aware of ingredient issues, people are suffering more from allergies and are concerned about their health. Furthermore, consumers who buy organic foods are also seeking organic skin care products and organic textiles. Thus, organic food shops now have a wide selection of organic cosmetics. We see that even big chains have their private label now. Emergence of fair trade and celebrity endorsements are becoming a trend. Following a small survey done in the UK: 60 % of the organic customers try to avoid synthetic materials, 24 % want natural and organic and 11 % search for products that give them a good feeling.

The top three chemicals that they want to avoid are parabens (34 %), sodium laureth/lauryl sulphate (30 %) and aluminium salts (16 %). For the 64 % of the sensitive customers are symbols and logos less important. And they are most influenced by friends and family (36 %), general media (24 %), internet (16 %), specialist media (8 %) and shop assistants only (7 %).

The typical consumer of natural and organic cosmetics and beauty products are females, aged between 25 and 44 years old. About 94 % belong to the better income and education classes.

Organic Monitor is giving similar workshops at a dedicated summit in Frankfurt, November 16-17th 2009. The Sustainable Cosmetics Summit aims to discuss the major issues the beauty industry faces concerning sustainability, natural, organic, fair trade and ecological products. More details here.