It faced the pandemic showing a strong capacity for innovation and flexibility in responding to the changes in the market imposed by the situation. But the challenges for the Italian cosmetics industry are not over and the uncertainties related to the supply chain crisis and the world unknown of the Russia-Ukraine war weigh on the long-awaited recovery, so much so that the Italian cosmetics trade association had to revise downwards the growth forecasts for this year and the next, bringing them respectively to + 2.3% – at 12.1 billion euros, which in any case marks the return to pre-crisis levels -, and + 3.3% compared to those made in January which saw much higher increases of 6.5% for 2022 and 6.6% for 2023.
Exports also did well, which last year grew by 13.8%, exceeding 4.8 billion euros with a positive impact on the trade balance which reached pre-Covid levels with a value of almost 2. 75 billion: as regards foreign markets, estimates project a + 3% at the end of 2022 and an increase of 4.5% in 2023.
“Never as in this moment the socio-economic transformations that characterize not only our country but the entire world community, condition the assessments to understand the dynamics between 2021 and 2022 and the prospects and difficulties in the medium-long term – comments Renato Ancorotti, president of Cosmetica Italia, in the presentation of the 54th Annual Report of the sector -. In fact, in addition to the negative effects of the prolongation of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the strong tensions on raw materials, the difficulty of supply and related increases, together with the ever-increasing pressure of energy costs, have had an evident impact on the entire industry. manufacturing and the cosmetic sector does not remain indifferent ».
The impact of the increase in costs on manufacturing companies is significant: there is talk of + 18% for cosmetic raw materials and packaging; while the increase deriving from the transformation and production of cosmetics is just over 11 percentage points. Businesses with a commercial-distribution orientation, on the other hand, suffer the most from the increase in logistics costs, close to 10%. Finally, the extra energy cost, over 35%, is transversal and very heavy.
“If the previous elaboration of the Annual Report recounted the negative effects of the pandemic from Covid-19 – continues Ancorotti -, this year’s document highlights the prompt growth of both the industry and the cosmetic market with economic recovery, if not actually in recovery, compared to the profound changes that took place in 2020. The values of 2021, despite the tensions that began to be registered at the end of the year, and which certainly affect the trends of 2022, confirm the health of a sector that has reaffirmed its ability not only of resilience to the economic crisis, but above all of reactivity and adaptation to new purchasing prospects by both Italian and foreign consumers. It should not be denied, however, that the uncertainties identified require great caution in defining future prospects. Despite the uncertainty of the reference scenario and despite the profound changes that have affected purchasing habits, the cosmetic industries have put in place a series of corrective measures and initiatives that on the one hand make it possible to intercept new consumption trends and from others face the economic difficulties confirming the value of a sector that continues to invest in innovation ».