Total Retail Sales of Cosmetics in China Rebound

The total retail sales of cosmetics achieved the first positive growth from January to February this year since the decline in August 2022.

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Today, the National Bureau of Statistics announced the retail sales data of consumer goods from January to February in 2023 was 7.7 trillion yuan ($1.11 trillion), up 3.5% year-on-year.

In terms of cosmetics-related data, the total retail sales of the cosmetics category from January to February 2023 was 65.6 billion yuan ($9.5 billion), up 3.8% year-on-year. Since the ease of the prevention and control of the pandemic, total retail sales in the cosmetics category have rebounded significantly, achieving the first positive growth since the decline in August 2022.

In a vertical comparison, although the cosmetics category achieved positive year-on-year growth of 3.8% from January to February this year, it still showed a decline compared to the average figure for the same period in previous years. Especially since reaching a peak of 40.7% in 2021, it began to show a precipitous decline. This shows that the competitive pressure on the cosmetics market is still not to be underestimated.

In terms of customs data, China imported 51,441 tonnes of beauty cosmetics and toiletries from January to February, down 16.4% compared to the same period last year. The import value was 20.7 billion yuan ($3 billion), down 5.1% year-on-year.

The National Bureau of Statistics said that the prevention and control of the pandemic turned faster and more stable from January to February this year. The economic cycle accelerated smoothly, production demand improved significantly, leading the economic operation to stabilize and rebounded. However, the external environment is more complex and the lack of demand is still more prominent. So the economic rebound foundation is not solid yet.