"The growth of the PCI market is directly linked to the increased consumption of personal care products," says Frost & Sullivan Industry Analyst Julia Zhu. "The personal care product industry is likely to boom in next several years, and its sales turnover rise will catalyze a PCI revenue increase."
Due to the increase of living standard and media guide, growing number of consumers are buying the concept of a personal care product. The market is not likely to reach saturation in the near future - and the market in towns and rural areas is forecast to have huge growth potential.
The increase in crude oil prices has added cost to PCI, especially the ester composites. Personal care companies consider it the major restraint for PCI industry, since increase of raw material prices reduces the profit of personal care product, thus decreasing the sales volume.
"As PCI manufacturers have immense cost burdens, they find it difficult to offer a competitive price that satisfies end users," explains Zhu. "New promoting policy with more value-added service is recommended to the suppliers of these ester-based PCIs."
Though high oil price is a major restraint for a section of the PCI industry, strengthening customer service and developing non-ester based new PCIs can build an ideal marketing policy for current suppliers. With this in place, suppliers can increase their revenues despite reducing profit margin. Despite these challenges, this market is likely to grow due to increasing awareness of beauty care and a fundamental lifestyle shift that Asia Pacific is currently witnessing.
