BUSINESS
CHINA DAILY Wednesday, August 7, 2019 | 15Hyaluronic acid producers
benefit from beauty boom
Domestic players see their market share grow as price-sensitive Chinese
consumers favor cheaper products for cosmetic surgery and treatment
By LIU ZHIHUA
[email protected]
In late 2018, the release of a lip-
stick collection in six colors by the
Palace Museum in Beijing pro-
voked enormous excitement
among fashion lovers.
All the lipsticks were inspired by
objects from the Palace Museum
collection, and although each lip-
stick was priced at 199 yuan ($29),
much higher than those of many
domestic brands, more than 1,
were sold within hours of their
release.
Apart from the cultural cache of
the world famous landmark and
the allure of the colorful packaging,
another key factor for the product’s
success was that the Palace Muse-
um teamed up with local company
Bloomage Biotechnology Co Ltd,
which is based in Jinan, Shandong
province, to design and produce
the lipsticks using hyaluronic acid
technology.
In China, with the fast develop-
ment of the cosmetic surgery
industry, demand for cosmetic pro-
cedures using hyaluronic acid,
either surgical or nonsurgical, is
booming.
In 2013, a total of 6.6 million cos-
metic procedures — both surgical
and nonsurgical — were performed
in China, while the number
increased to 16.3 million in 2017,
growing 25.4 percent on average
each year, according to a report by
Frost & Sullivan China released in
2018.
The size of the cosmetic surgery
market in China jumped to 99.3 bil-
lion yuan in 2017 from 41.9 billion
yuan in 2013, the report said.
Among all the cosmetic proce-
dures in 2017, about 30 percent
were surgical, while almost 70 per-
cent were nonsurgical, and around
70 percent involved were botuli-
num toxin and hyaluronic acid
treatment, the report said.
Chinese people are expected to
increase their spending on hyalu-
ronic acid treatments, according to
another report on the hyaluronic
acid industry by Frost & Sullivan
China, which was released in early
2019.
From 2013 to 2017, the amount of
hyaluronic acid sold in China
annually increased from 124.9 met-
ric tons to 308.1 tons, with an aver-
age yearly growth of 25.3 percent, it
said.
The report said the cosmetic sur-
gery industry is becoming the most
important consumption sector for
hyaluronic acid, because hyaluron-
ic acid used in cosmetic proce-
dures, through injection or
external use, needs to be repeated
regularly to sustain the effects.
The report estimated that sales
of hyaluronic acid in China will
grow 14.1 percent on average each
year from 2018 to 2022, to reach
613.2 tons.
The size of the hyaluronic acid
market in China was 7.83 billion
yuan in 2017, with average annual
growth from 2013 reaching 36.
percent, it said.
Since Restylane from Sweden’s
Q-Med received market launch
approval from Chinese health
authorities in 2008, competition in
China’s hyaluronic acid market has
intensified with increasing num-
bers of new drug applications in
recent years.
In 2012, Bloomage Biotech’s Bio-
hyalux was approved by Chinese
authorities, becoming the first
domestic hyaluronic acid injection
product.
Chinese market players, includ-
ing Bloomage Biotech, Shanghai-
based Haohai Biological
Technology, and Beijing-based
IMEIK Technology Development
Co Ltd, are strengthening their
presence, driven by improved tech-
nologies, a positive brand image
and increased market demand.
The Shanghai Stock Exchange
has accepted listing applications
from both Bloomage Biotech andHaohai Biological Technology for
the science and technology innova-
tion board, while IMEIK has
recently refiled a listing application
for the startup board.
According to Bloomage Biotech’s
prospectus, the company, which
produces both hyaluronic acid raw
materials and end products such as
medical injection and skin care
products, has reported fast growth
in recent years.
Its revenue was 733 million yuan,
818 million yuan and 1.26 billion
yuan in 2016, 2017 and 2018 respec-
tively, while its net profit increased
from 222 million yuan in 2017 to
424 million yuan last year.
Zhao Yan, president of Bloomage
Biotech, said the company’s key
technologies in producing hyalu-
ronic acid through microbial fer-
mentation not only improve
product quality, but also signifi-
cantly increase productivity and
reduce production costs.
The average yearly revenue
growth of Haohai Biological Tech-
nology, which mainly focuses on
medical products, was 34.6 percent
from 2016 to 2018, its prospectus
showed.
Its main business revenue was
860 million yuan, 1.35 billion yuan
and 1.55 billion yuan in 2016, 2017
and 2018, respectively.
As for IMEIK, its revenue was 141
million yuan, 222 million yuan and
321 million yuan in 2016, 2017 and
2018 respectively, with its gross
profit margin consistently exceed-
ing 85 percent.
While the foreign brand Resty-
lane takes up about 40 percent of
China’s hyaluronic acid fillers mar-
ket, Bloomage Biotech’s Biohyalux,
accounts for 25 percent, according
to the Frost & Sullivan China report.
Zhao said Chinese companies
have paid growing attention to
improving product quality in
recent years, and customers now
have good faith in Chinese hyalu-
ronic acid brands.
“Through increased investment
in research and development and
talent, as well as well-regulated
management and production
activities, the quality of Chinese
companies’ hyaluronic acid prod-
ucts has been largely improved in
recent years,” she said.
Zheng Wen, executive president
of a clinic under Reindeer Beauty, a
Beijing-based startup chain of cos-
metic surgery clinics focusing on
medium to small cities, said the
China market was dominated by
foreign brands about 10 years ago,
while now Chinese brands are also
popular.
“Average Chinese people who are
sensitive to prices often choose Chi-
nese brands because they are
cheaper compared with foreign
ones,” she said.Top: A hyaluronic acid injec-
tion made in Romania is dis-
played at an exhibition in
Ningbo, Zhejiang province,
on June 8.
Above: A hyaluronic acid
cosmetic product made in
South Korea is available at
an exhibition in Shanghai on
May 6.Savvy customers
focus on quality,
safety and efficacy
By REN XIAOJIN
[email protected]Anyone interested in skin care,
who enjoys a facial and follows the
latest skin care trends has heard of
hyaluronic acid.
Chinese consumers love hyalu-
ronic acid products, and this is
reflected in their shopping carts. On
the June 18 online discount day, one
of China’s biggest shopping festivals
led by Taobao, German beauty
brand Balea saw sales of its beauty
treatment capsules with hyaluronic
acid hit 120,000 during the first
hour.
L’Oreal, one of the world’s most
renowned beauty brands, also saw
an impressive performance of its
hyaluronic acid products during
June 18. Sales of its eye cream with a
high concentration of hyaluronic
acid surpassed 200 million yuan
($29 million), and its hyaluronic
acid facial mask topped the bestsel-
ler chart of the online platform
Tmall in the mask category.
Fabrice Megabane, L’Oreal China
CEO, said Chinese consumers are
becoming increasingly sophisticat-
ed and know exactly what they
want.
“Chinese consumers are looking
for superior quality, safety and effi-
cacy, they want formula transparen-
cy and are passionate about
acquiring professional knowledge,”
he said.
According to L’Oreal China’s
research, Chinese consumers are
developing strong concerns about
the quality, safety and function of
skin care products, and as a result
they will look into the ingredients of
the products they use. In addition,
Chinese consumers’ passion for hya-
luronic acid has inspired L’Oreal to
develop products customized to
their needs.
Some domestic startups, such as
Creatilab, have spotted another
trend in Chinese consumers’ obses-
sion with hyaluronic acid — sinceRegulation needed
to protect users
By REN XIAOJINHyaluronic acid treatments are
becoming an increasingly popular
alternative to plastic surgery in Chi-
na, but the market needs regulation.
Instead of plastic surgery, “light
medical aesthetics”, which usually
refers to nonsurgical treatment
such as small molecule hyaluronic
acid injections and thermage, or
skin tightening, have become pop-
ular as they are cheaper and less
risky.
According to a report from Meit-
uan, during this year’s June 18
online shopping festival, hyaluron-
ic acid injections were the most
popular service in the injection cat-
egory.
“In the past, the perception of
medical aesthetics was more about
plastic surgery, but now user prefer-
ence is leaning toward nonsurgical
products,” said Li Xiaohui, a spokes-
man for Meituan’s medical aesthet-
ics business department. “Of the
requests we received, light medical
aesthetics orders accounted for 78
percent of total business and it’s still
growing.”
Dong Xiaoyin is a regular user of
beauty booster injections of small
molecule hyaluronic acid to keep
her skin luminous and glowing.
“It costs about 3,000 yuan ($436)
in Shanghai per shot,” she said. “I
think it is much safer compared to
plastic surgery, which always comes
with higher risk, and I just want my
skin to stay in the best condition.”
She said the only tricky thing was
to find a clinic that used legitimate
products.
“The price ranges differ greatly,”
said Dong who is a regular user of
SoYoung, China’s leading medical
aesthetic platform. “If you look on
the app, prices for the same prod-
ucts can range from a couple of hun-
dred yuan to 2,000 to 3,000 yuan.
And some advertisements can be
misleading.”“Luckily, many established
brands such as Filorga offer a simple
verification method by scanning a
QR code, and I only trust those
brands,” she added.
However, a lack of regulations in
the business has led to fake prod-
ucts, underqualified doctors and
misleading advertisements.
According to the Chinese Associa-
tion of Plastics and Aesthetics’
research in 2017, 70 percent of hyalu-
ronic acid products were either fake
or from questionable sources.
Zhao Yan, president of Bloomage
Biotech, one of China’s biggest man-
ufacturers of pharmaceutical prod-
ucts specializing in hyaluronic acid,
warned if unqualified or underqual-
ified doctors are operating in the
market, no matter how simple a
process looks, it could lead to devas-
tating consequences.
Zhao said the country has been
pouring efforts into regulating the
business and hopes laws will soon
be in place to help the industry grow
further.they already knew what ingredients
they want, the consumers are look-
ing for simple and efficient skin care
products.
Creatilab is a Chinese skin care
startup that makes hyaluronic acid
capsules, also known as ampuls.
Pang Zhifang, founder of Creati-
lab, thinks there is not much room
for technological breakthroughs in
the skin care industry. Therefore, he
decided to innovate on the concept
and process of skin care.
“The concept of ampuls is an
innovation on the concept of the
skin care process,” he said. “Estab-
lished brands nowadays mainly
focus on complicated skin care proc-
esses, but our products emphasize
minimal effort to achieve maximum
effect.”
Chen Xinyi, a 28-year-old woman
in Ningbo, Zhejiang province, said
she often buys hyaluronic acid
ampuls from various brands
because she knows what she wants
for her skin and she prefers to buy
products that contain exactly what
she wants.The concept of
ampuls is an
innovation on the
concept of the skin
care process.
Established brands
nowadays mainly
focus on complicated
skin care processes,
but our products
emphasize minimal
effort to achieve
maximum effect.”
Pang Zhifang, founder of
skin care startup CreatilabThe price (for
hyaluronic acid
products) ranges
differ greatly. If you
look on the app,
prices for the same
products can range
from a couple of
hundred yuan to
2,000 to 3,000 yuan.
And some
advertisements can
be misleading.”
Dong Xiaoyin, a hyaluronic
acid products userThrough increased
investment in
research and
development and
talent ... the quality
of Chinese
companies’
hyaluronic acid
products has been
largely improved in
recent years.”
Zhao Yan , president of
Bloomage Biotech Co LtdA customer undergoes cosmetic surgery procedures at a clinic in Changchun, capital of Jilin province. PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY