The price increase goes into effect immediately, although the chemicals company states that any existing contractual obligations with customers will not be affected.
Speaking with Torsten Clarius, Marketing Manager at BASF Personal Care Europe, he tells us that the reason for the price hike is in order to reflect the global demand and supply situation for vitamin A in the market.
“The industry anticipates a tighter supply of vitamin A in the global market. This is the case for all industries consuming vitamin A,” he tells CosmeticsDesign-Europe.com.
Skin care effects
BASF is currently a worldwide leading producer of Vitamin A for the animal and human nutrition industries, and the cosmetics industry will also be affected by the increase as there is applications in skin care too.
“In Personal Care and Cosmetics, vitamin A and its derivatives are preferably used as anti-aging ingredients in skin care formulations,” explains Clarius.
“BASF offers various products for cosmetics containing different vitamin A derivatives, which basically normalize the skin function. The epidermis and dermis grow thicker, and the skin becomes more elastic, fresh and adequately supplied with moisture. This reduces wrinkles and lines in number, area, length and width.”
Vitamin A
Vitamin A is popular in cosmetics, particularly skin care and anti-ageing as it helps to maintain skin health, reduce inflammation, regulating growth of epidermal cells and slows the ageing process.
It belongs to a large class of compounds called retinoids and is found in cosmetics in a number of forms such as retinol, retinyl esters, retinoic acid, retinyl palmitate, acitretin and adapalene.
It has been shown to reverse photo-ageing and reduce the appearance of wrinkles; and is also used as a treatment for acne, and may have skin lightening effects.
The ingredient can be difficult to work with and formulate as it is naturally unstable when exposed to light, and stable forms are generally viewed as less effective. Vitamin A is one of the vitamins most supported by evidence.