During his traditional opening speech at the 23rd Perfumes & Cosmetics Congress, organised in Chartres on 19 and 20 November 2025 by Cosmetic Valley, its president, Marc-Antoine Jamet, outlined the landscape in which the cosmetics sector operates today. He also pointed out the dark clouds looming on the horizon, even suggesting that we should turn to the heavens to dispel them…
Excerpt from the speech given by Marc-Antoine Jamet on 19 November 2025
Last year, the sky above our heads was truly filled with clouds. They have not disappeared.
China
I have just returned from China. Our expertise is no longer content to fascinate, intrigue and attract. Now, our formulas are being deciphered, our packaging copied, procedures invented, and deadlines and tests multiplied. In short, non-tariff barriers are being erected in front of our products. Is this temporary? Is it structural? I have my own opinion on the matter, but I’ll leave everyone to decide for themselves.
Meanwhile, local competition is becoming fierce. It is growing in both scale and confidence. It is even enjoying great success at times. We thought it was confined to the mass market. It is invading the middle market, venturing into the premium market, and knocking on the door of the luxury market, as if we didn’t have enough competition from our old friend Japan and, more recently, Korea.
The President of the Republic, who will be in Beijing on 4 and 5 December, has promised us that he will reopen the cosmetics issue with his Chinese counterpart, as he did in 2023. …
