导航菜单
On April 29, 2024, China's National Institutes for Food and Drug Control (NIFDC) released the 2025 Annual Review Report on Cosmetics.
The Report summarizes the NIFDC's key efforts in 2025, including advancing review system reforms, supporting cosmetic ingredient innovation, improving the standards framework, and promoting the implementation of the cosmetic safety assessment system. It also analyzes registration and notification data for cosmetics and new cosmetic ingredients, providing an overview of recent developments in China's cosmetics industry.
In 2025, China accepted 7 new cosmetic ingredient (NCI) registration applications in 2025, including 5 domestic and 2 imported applications. A total of 2 registrations were approved during the year, with one domestic and one imported ingredient receiving approval.
In parallel, the notification pathway remained the primary channel for NCI market entry. In 2025, China recorded 169 newly notified NCIs, demonstrating continued momentum in ingredient innovation activity. Among them, domestic NCIs accounted for 150 filings, representing 88.8% of the total, while imported ingredients accounted for 18 filings (10.7%). Three filing originated from Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan regions, respectively.
From a regional perspective, domestic innovation activity remained highly concentrated in key industrial clusters. Guangdong, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Beijing, and Shandong ranked as the top five provinces for new ingredient notifications, together contributing 67.9% of all domestic filings.
For imported ingredients, notified filings covered 8 countries in total. Italy, South Korea, France, and Japan were the leading overseas sources, accounting for 77.7% of all imported NCI notifications, highlighting the continued interest of major global cosmetics markets in entering China.
Looking at the longer-term trend, a total of 376 NCIs have been notified in China over the past five years. Domestic ingredients accounted for 83.5% of all filings, further underscoring the growing role of local innovation under China's evolving cosmetics regulatory framework.
According to the Report, China accepted 20,155 special cosmetics registration applications in 2025 and approved 20,162 applications, including first-time registrations, amendments, and renewals.
From a product category perspective, hair dye and whitening products continued to dominate both registration applications and approvals for special cosmetics in China. Hair dye products remained the largest segment, accounting for roughly one-third of all cases, with whitening products following closely behind. The approval data showed a similar pattern, while sunscreen products and anti-hair loss products also maintained a notable share of approved first-time registrations.
The data indicates that efficacy-driven categories such as hair coloring, whitening, and sun protection continue to be the core focus of China’s special cosmetics market and regulatory review activity.
In 2025, China recorded over 511,000 filings for general cosmetics, of which domestic products accounted for 97.6%, underscoring the continued dominance of local supply in the mass cosmetics market. Imported products remained a small share at 2.4%. Notably, product lifecycle activity remained active, with more than 309,000 filing changes recorded, representing a 12.9% year-on-year increase.
From a category perspective, general cosmetics continued to be led by functional mass-market segments, with moisturizing, makeup, and cleansing products remaining the dominant claims for both domestic and imported filings. Export-oriented products also showed steady momentum, reaching over 71,000 filings, up 14.5% year-on-year, reflecting continued growth in China's overseas-oriented cosmetics manufacturing.
In parallel, toothpaste—regulated under the same filing framework—recorded 8,050 new filings in 2025. Domestic toothpaste products accounted for 95.8% of total filings, while imported products represented 4.0%. Production remains highly concentrated in key provinces such as Guangdong, Jiangsu, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Yunnan, which together contributed more than 87% of domestic filings.
Overall, both general cosmetics and toothpaste continue to show a highly domestic-driven structure, with large-scale filing volumes and stable growth in export-oriented products, reflecting the maturity and scale of China's mass personal care manufacturing sector.
Industry Trends: From Expansion to Structured, Science-Driven Growth
Based on 2025 data, China's cosmetics industry is moving toward a more structured growth phase, where innovation, regulation, and commercialization are increasingly interconnected.
New cosmetic ingredient innovation continues to grow, while registration requirements are raising the entry threshold; regulation is becoming more science-driven and digitalized with higher compliance expectations; and functional categories remain highly concentrated, with competition increasingly driven by R&D, safety validation, and regulatory capability.
Looking ahead to 5th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030), the regulatory framework is expected to further advance standardization, science-based safety assessment, and smart supervision systems, alongside deeper international alignment and participation in global standard-setting.
