PCHi 2017: the inside scoop on a leading China beauty trade show

The Personal Care and Homecare Ingredients (PCHi) trade show enjoyed a successful 10th edition earlier this year, welcoming 507 global exhibitors to Guangzhou.

Over 2,700 delegates attended the show, alongside nearly 19,000 unique visitors - which organisers described as a ‘major leap’ from 2016’s visitor figures of 15,292.

Joe Zhou, Vice-President at RSE, said: “We have received overwhelmingly positive feedback from exhibitors and visitors about this significant anniversary edition, and are pleased that PCHi was a choice platform for facilitating topics and activities that resonated with the people at the core of the global personal care industry.”  

Show organisers noted that PCHi continues to offer a global platform the ingredients industry, and it “progressively reinvents itself to cater to the needs of a wider and more diverse set of international and domestic exhibitors and visitors.”

They state: “Over the years, the event has also established itself as a favored launch pad for companies to introduce new solutions.”

Expert knowledge sharing

At the show, CosmeticsDesign caught up with two members of the expert CSTIC panel, Zhang Wan Ping and Daniel Chen.

Zhang Wan Ping, from the School of Perfume and Aroma Technology, Shanghai Institute of Technology, spoke on the advances of cosmetic technologies at the show.

Zhang Wan Ping’s focus is in special emulsion system and coated carrier technology, including emulsions with liquid crystal structure, multi-emulsions, nano emulsions, lipid nanoparticle carries and polysilocane microspheres.

“Through my work, I aim to improve the quality and make technological breakthroughs - there are many cosmetics preparations, and my work is mainly focused on changing the special structures and systems of cosmetics, for example, coated carriers. There are new nanoemulsion technologies that are particularly exciting.

Daniel Chen spoke of the challenges facing brands in China, particularly the still restrictive regulatory landscape. He noted there is hope for greater innovation, because the government is becoming increasingly open and flexible. “It will improve, for sure,” he predicted. “But how much and how quickly remains to be seen.”

Broad insights

Other industry experts gave a variety of insightful presentations at the show, across such varied topics as dermo-cosmetics, natural extracts, cosmetics formulation, regulation and testing.

Johnson & Johnson’s Director, Baby Care, R&D Asia-Pacific, Scott Beaudry, gave a presentation on one key area of potential growth for the industry: baby care.

One delegate, Philip Wang, R&D Director at Winona, voiced his appreciation for the programme coverage.

I attend the PCHi conference every year and it’s great to have the addition of baby care sessions this time,” he said.

“For me, the technical content was more useful but it was good to also hear from Johnson & Johnson about their best practices in baby care product manufacturing. Overall, a good set of information was presented and I hope there will be more content around this topic in future.”