Participants in the blooming naturals market see Brazil's Amazon basin as a garden of plenty, boasting potential new active ingredients among its 13,000 plant species. Brazilian beauty exports are growing with the naturals market. Foreign sales volume doubled over the last three years taking total beauty exports to $294m (€207.7 m)in 2006, according to the Brazilian Toiletry, Perfumery and Cosmetics Association (Abihpec). The Brazilian beauty industry also serves the country's image conscious consumers who are lapping up the latest beauty inventions at an accelerating rate. In dollar terms, the domestic market grew by 26 per cent last year taking total sales to $18.2bn. Brazil now stands ahead of France and Germany as the world's third largest cosmetics market. At this week's Beyond Beauty Paris, Abihpec is presenting the products of nine Brazilian companies: Brazilian Feeling, Brazilian Fruit, Du Plessis (Amazonia Viva), Kanechomn, Nunaat Cosmetics, Sther, Surya Brasil, Tricofort and Vive Cosmetique. "It will be a first experience for the companies to evaluate whether the exhibition meets our needs and expectations," said the Joao Carlos Basilio da Silva, Abihpec's president. He added: "We hope to have a successful participation and maintain the strategy in the following years." Basilio forecasts that the country's industry is to grow by an average of 12 per cent in 2007. He also anticipates investment to remain steady at $100m a year until 2010 with money being directed primarily to the expansion of existing factories.
