Made in France beauty exports plunge 11.8 percent

Exports of French cosmetics fell 11.8 percent in 2020 versus 2019, according to a report published by the French beauty business federation, FEBEA, reaching a value of €15.7 billion.

However, cosmetics remains one of the best-performing sectors of the French economy, beaten only by aeronautics, and the country’s cosmetics sector held onto its title as world-leader.

Cosmetics exports to China rose sharply – up 20.7 percent – the Asian behemoth is rapidly becoming the leading market for French cosmetics, ahead of Germany and the US.

Soaps performed particularly well, while sales of perfumes and edt dwindled, FEBEA said, primarily due to the shut down of many travel retail outlets.

“Cosmetics has proven throughout the year its ability to cope with this extraordinary situation,” says Patrick O’Quin, President of FEBEA. “For our part, we have acted at all levels, to defend the interests of our members to the fullest. In particular, we have been involved in facilitating export processes by obtaining the dematerialization of a number of required documents. In total, more than 50 percent of production is exported, and the cosmetics export alone employs 130,000 men and women throughout France. Despite the troubled environment, French cosmetics now holds 24 percent of the world’s market share. ‘Made in France’ remains an essential asset for the sector and for our economy as a whole.”

Source: https://www.globalcosmeticsnews.com/made-in-france-beauty-exports-plunge-11-8-percent/