After two years of being presented in a virtual format, the SEPAWA Congress returned live in Berlin last week, offering experts in the home care, personal care, and fragrance industries a vast networking platform, numerous conferences, and an exhibition area that featured more than 300 companies presenting their latest products, trends, and insights.
“It was great to be back and connect with peers in person again,” says Carlos J. Ruiz, Project Lead of our Chemicals practice. Here, according to Ruiz, are the top seven takeaways from the show:
- Sustainability is still key. “Despite the concept being prevalent in home care and I&I cleaning applications for some time now, the industry is more ready than ever for a stronger push on sustainability,” reports Ruiz.
- Plant-based options are booming. “For instance, in the active ingredients for personal care space, retinol and derivatives are currently in vogue,” says Ruiz, “but so are other actives from plant-based alternatives such as bakuchiol and Pistacia lentiscus gum.”
- In the category of biosurfactants, sophorolipids and rhamnolipids are being pushed in both the home and personal care applications.
- The industry’s constant quest – to decrease wash temperature but still have excellent results – is still a priority due to the rise in energy prices.
- Bio-based polymers for clear hair styling formulations are becoming more important in personal care formulations.
- The use of multifunctional ingredients continues to increase in personal care formulations, as alternative preservation systems are replacing traditional and synthetic solutions.
- There was a larger representation of Asian suppliers at the event compared to previous years. “This was probably related to supply chain issues with raw materials and availability of products,” says Ruiz. “That, along with the increased energy prices in Europe, are making Asian suppliers even more cost-competitive.”
Kline is currently working on the new edition of Specialty Actives in Personal Care: Global Market Analysis and Opportunities, covering Brazil, China, Europe, Japan, United States, South Korea, and, for the first time, India. Expected to be ready in Q1 2023, the detailed appraisal of the key regional markets for active ingredients assesses current and forecast demand by major ingredients and functionality, prices, distribution channels, supplier sales, and technical and market trends. In addition, Delivery Systems in Personal Care: Market Analysis and Opportunities, covering Europe and United States, is also expected in Q1 2023. It will cover more than 15 delivery systems, consumption of key delivery systems by region, pricing analysis, supplier sales by delivery system in each region, a value chain analysis, forecast of consumption within a five-year timeframe, and more.
Kline has two studies analyzing ingredients in cleaners: Ingredients for Household, Industrial, and Institutional Cleaning Applications segments local market demand by ingredient function (i.e. antimicrobials, bleach, enzymes, functional polymers and eight others) while the I&I Cleaning: Cross-Segment Analysis study looks at ingredient demand by end-use (i.e. building care, food & beverage processing, technical cleaning, and four others).
