In our newsletter a few weeks back, we touched on the narrowing diversity gap within the industry. Beauty is becoming inclusive, removing gender/race and other barriers previously holding the industry back from being an all-for-one pioneer. And it seems, as the industry continues to evolve, so does its consumers. While once a minority beauty buyer, Muslim shoppers are growing in purchasing power. No longer afraid to embrace their love of cosmetics, Muslim women are becoming increasingly emboldened as – most of – today’s society welcomes and accepts change and female empowerment of any kind. Indeed, as this female empowerment grows, so will the cosmetics market. In fact, according to a report compiled by Thomson Reuters in association with Dinar Standard, the spending power within the market is strong globally. As we previously reported, global Muslim spend on cosmetics was up 4 percent in 2015 on the previous year’s figures, reaching a value of US$56 billion, while Muslim spend on cosmetics is expected to reach US$81 billion by 2021. And with the market growth comes the increasing need for halal certification, giving consumers the peace of mind that what they’re purchasing is true to its halal promises. Indonesia, for example, passed a law in 2014 that required all halal consumer products to be halal certified and labelled by 2019. With that deadline fast approaching, and with Asia being a hotbed for market growth, halal product and ingredient certification is becoming more important than ever. There are, of course, already experts in the field. Take British speciality chemicals company, Croda, for example. Clearly one to spot a trend early on, the company has been manufacturing halal certified ingredients for the beauty industry for some 20 years, with its Singapore plant certified by Majelis Ugama Islam Singapura (MUIS).
Indeed, keen to stay ahead of the increasingly competitive game, Croda has aimed for a transparent and easy process for its halal manufacturing, offering formulators a ‘Croda Halal-certified Ingredient Guide’. Taking out the guess work, the guide lists the raw materials and the type of halal certifications that each ingredient is certified to, ‘in order to help customers in the selection of technologies for different applications.’ Helpful to say the least. And with the halal industry set for ongoing development, the range of products available will no doubt have to evolve with this growth – making Croda’s wide range of halal compliant ingredient options – such as surfactants, emollients, fatty acids and alcohols, humectants, inorganic UV filters, lanolin and derivatives, rheology modifiers, gelling agents, speciality blends and bases, specialty cationic compounds, active ingredients and botanical extracts – attractive to the many companies that will be looking to take a slice of the pie. And if Unilever Philippines is getting in on the action – the personal care giant is set to export halal products to Southeast Asia and Australia for the first time, having gained certification for its Cavite facility – it’s a firm indicator it’ll be a new business avenue for many.
