The Sunday Mail
CONSUMPTION trends across the world have seen people becoming more conscious about their health and well-being than ever before.
Trade Focus
Allan Majuru
Natural skin, hair and dental care products are significantly impacting on consumer trends across the world.
These trends are driven by consumers’ desire to use natural and organic products, as these are perceived to have more benefits for the skin, do not have long-term effects and are less harmful to the environment.
As the world is looking at natural personal care and beauty products as the in-thing, Zimbabwean businesses have an opportunity to explore emerging markets by riding on the country’s natural resources.
Zimbabwe is naturally endowed with indigenous plants and trees whose by-products such as organic oils, are highly sought after in the cosmetic sector, in both international and domestic markets.
Today, a growing number of formulators and manufacturers in the cosmetic and pharmaceutical sectors are using these organic oils as active ingredients in coming up with medical products for anti-ageing and skin diseases.
Famous and highly sought-after organic oils from Zimbabwe include those extracted from marula, ximenia, moringa, tea tree, aloe, avocado and eembeke.
All these are used as active ingredients in manufacturing various cosmetic products.
To tap into the potential of these natural products, President Mnangagwa’s Government is positioning local producers to add value to local resources and come up with high-end products that can fetch more on the international market.
For example, following the identification of Mwenezi as a potential regional hub for marula products, President Mnangagwa commissioned a marula/mapfura processing and value-addition factory in Rutenga, which is a landmark and game-changing investment that has put the area on the cusp of industrialisation.
The plant, the first factory in Rutenga, is expected to rake in nearly US$400 million seasonally from marula/mapfura processing and value addition when in full operation.
Undoubtedly, some of the products from the plant such as oils, have a ready market internationally, and proceeds from the exports will improve rural livelihoods.
Marula/mapfura is one example of the many naturally growing plants found across the country that have been identified as a potential game changer for Zimbabwe’s exports of personal care, essential oils and beauty products.
To increase capacities around these products, ZimTrade — the country’s national trade development and promotion organisation — is developing export clusters across provinces, which will help organise producers and improve the quantities and qualities of export offerings.
The clusters, currently under development, are expected to increase exports of personal care and beauty products at district and provincial level.
Global market
The global market for personal care and beauty products has been on an upward trend over the past few years and is projected to continue growing.
According to a report by Grand Review Research, the global beauty and personal care products market size is expected to reach US$937,1 billion by 2030.
The report notes that natural and organic substitutes are gaining traction among a sizeable number of consumers, driven by rising consumer awareness related to the harmful effects of chemicals on the skin.
Industry trends show that people are now shifting towards beauty products that have no long-term effects and are manufactured using natural and organic materials.
This has led to the increased use of new active ingredients, including natural products with defined and specific biological effects.
The shift towards natural products has seen an increase in essential oils that are produced from plant sources such as flowers and fruits, herbs, resins and wood oils.
According to Trade Map, the global import value of essential oils and resinoids, perfumery, and cosmetic and toilet preparations has grown over five years, from around US$128 billion to US$168 billion in 2021.
Top markets are China, the United States, Hong Kong, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Singapore and Netherlands. Of these figures, the global import value of plant-based essential oils grew from US$5,4 billion in 2017 to US$5,8 billion in 2021.
Top importing markets for plant-based essential oils that offer opportunities for local businesses include France, Germany, China, the UK and Netherlands.
These countries already enjoy good trading relations with Zimbabwe.
Local suppliers can leverage on current performing products to introduce personal care and beauty products into these markets.
The import value of beauty or make-up and skincare preparations also grew from US$48,8 billion in 2017 to US$74,3 billion in 2021.
Further, the global import value for preparations for use on hair has grown over five years, from US$13,8 billion in 2017 to US$16,3 billion in 2021.
Countries such as China, Germany, the UK and Netherlands are among top importers of the products that Zimbabwean companies can target.
Growing local capacity
Trade data shows that Zimbabwe’s exports of essential oils have been growing over the past decade.
As women are often relatively more interested in personal care and beauty products, there is need for a deliberate approach to capacitate women-led businesses in the sector.
The cosmetics sector value chain in most countries relies on women who participate in production, manufacturing, marketing and sales.
This means easier wins could be achieved if capacity-building interventions are provided to women-led enterprises, which, in turn, will increase their participation in the economy, drive trade and create new jobs.
Financiers also need to come up with solutions that allow small businesses to access capital for investments at favourable terms, as some small enterprises might not have collateral.
As personal care and beauty products are available in different varieties, businesses also need to capitalise on niche areas where they can enjoy competitive and comparative advantages.
In this case, businesses can ride on, for example, natural products available in abundance in their communities and unique production techniques and product qualities that can differentiate their offerings from competition.
For local producers who are riding on organic and other health selling points, there is need to invest in research and development so that they can effectively communicate the benefits of their products.
Producers need to identify specific components in their products, what health benefits they have and why consumers should be interested.
Investing in e-commerce will also allow local producers to reach consumers around the world.
As most producers in the country are small businesses, they normally do not have capacity to stock their products in major retail stores in international markets.
They can, however, make use of digital platforms to market their products and ship them when transactions are made.
Allan Majuru ZimTrade’s CEO
