Export

Sixth cosmetics exporter in Europe

For many years now, France has remained the greatest European cosmetics exporter and with its exports worth almost 4.5 billion Euro has been significantly outdistancing second in rank Germany (2.5 billion Euro). The other leading cosmetics markets hold further positions: Italy, Great Britain, Spain and Poland, whose distance to the preceding three has been decreasing year by year.

Impressive growth dynamic

In the years 2001-2011, the value of Polish cosmetics exports (including personal hygiene products) grew over five times, in 2001 reaching the upper limit of over 3.1 billion Euro. In the past 10 years, exports have been growing on the average by 25%, with the greatest percent rise in 2004, which was just after Poland had joined the EU.

Experience and global range

The export of Polish cosmetics was developed long before the economic changes of 1989 and Polish products were found even on Arabic and Eastern markets. Today, Poland is the 6th cosmetics exporter in Europe. Cosmetics produced in Poland are sent to over 130 countries, including places as remote as Trinidad and Tobago, New Zealand and Chile. There is a big demand for Polish products both among traditional consumers in Central-East European countries and on the leading cosmetics markets in Europe, including those in Germany and Great Britain. The strong position of Polish cosmetics on the undoubtedly demanding markets is proof of their high quality.

The biggest individual consumers of cosmetics produced in Poland are Russia (15,3%), Great Britain (12,1%) and Germany (11,9%). Statistics show Poland’s strong position on the markets of the former Eastern Bloc, which receive 40% of the Polish exports. Cosmetics produced in Poland are sold also on the greatest European cosmetic markets, which constitute 35% of our exports and include Germany, France, Great Britain and Italy.

Most of the cosmetics sent abroad are produced in factories belonging to global concerns, but the share of exports in the sale structure of Polish companies is constantly growing. Further, more and more of their cosmetics are to be found on the shelves of foreign stores. On the basis of the data received from Polish producers, we can estimate that the share is between 10% and 20%, with all the companies pointing to the development of foreign market sales as the main element of their strategy in the coming years. In the case of companies with foreign capital there is an opposite situation – between 80% and 90% of the cosmetics produced in Poland go abroad. We can thus say that more than half of the cosmetic products made in Poland go to foreign markets.