Guangzhou prepares for L’Oreal, Estee Lauder onslaught with ‘beauty park’ to fight in US$51.8 billion home cosmetics market

Guangzhou is building an industrial park to accommodate cosmetics and skincare makers and spearhead China’s home market and rival global brands

The city, the second-largest economy in Greater Bay Area, is expected to unveil more favourable policies in 2021 to support the industry

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Shifei Biotech has invested 250 million yuan for its 222,454-sq ft project within the Beauty and Healthcare Industrial Park in Guangzhou. Photo: Iris Ouyang

Published: 1:30pm, 11 Apr 2021Updated: 1:30pm, 11 Apr 2021

Guangzhou, the capital of southern Chinese province of Guangdong, is stepping up efforts to catalyse the cosmetics and skincare industry and compete with brands from global leaders in the US$52 billion home market.

The city is building a 10.22-sq km “Beauty and Healthcare Industrial Park” in the Baiyun district to generate synergies by bringing together local players in one location, according to the Baiyun District Science, Industry, Commerce and Information Technology Bureau. Construction began earlier this year.

The city has some 1,789 such firms or about 40 per cent of the total nationwide, according to the bureau, which runs a leadership team to promote the industry. As of November 2020, 12 companies have agreed to invest around 3.5 billion yuan (US$534 million) to set up factories.

“The biggest challenge [for development of the local cosmetics and skincare industry] is the lack of land,” Chen Wande, office director of the bureau, said in an interview. “So the city and the district created the park by buying land from villagers.”

The Park, situated within the larger Guangzhou Private Science and Technology Park in the capital city, is expected to generate 8.6 billion yuan worth of cosmetics and skincare products annually, Chen added. Tourism, leisure, conferences and exhibitions will also be integrated in the park, he added.