2023 to 2024: Looking back at the business challenges

Miyoshi Europe: is the European subsidiary of Miyoshi Kasei, a Japanese industrial group, leader in surface treatment technology for pigments and mineral fillers in the cosmetics industry.

To better serve the European market, Miyoshi Europe has moved to Saint-Priest, near Lyon, France.

We are specialized in the surface treatment of pigments and fillers for the cosmetic industry. These treatments improve the properties of finished products, such as texture, hold and application of cosmetics.

Introduction of the interviewee

• 2023 Results:

  • What were the main challenges you faced last year?

  • Have there been any significant changes post covid?

2023 is indeed the post-Covid year confirmation, we continue to observe a change in consumption from our customers.

The first major challenge was supply-side, with a very significant “time to market” reduction for our customers which led to a drop in forecast reliability, and a very limited visibility.  Less reliable forecasts but a need for ultimate flexibility on our part to meet the needs.  The versatility of the market has been very impactful for us. It was a real challenge!

Changes in consumer behavior in China added to new regulations (CSAR) bring also major impacts to cosmetics players. The registration of materials on the platform of the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) in China, a significant regulatory process for the marketing of medical, pharmaceutical and cosmetic products obliged our customers (and at the end, us) was very heavy for all of us.

The post-Covid period has also been affected by the escalating cost of raw materials and a number of unstable markets. The price constraints are much greater than before.

Last but not least, the environmental challenges we all face on, the supply chain transparency and full traceability needs must be integrated through a CSR prism from the beginning of the product development. Important resources on these strategic topics for us.

• What types of ingredients were of particular interest in 2023? (Global)

• What was the main focus at the ingredient level this year?

At the level of ingredients, all this is linked and there is a growing need for naturalness and traceability.

The big challenge remains the replacement of high-performance synthetic materials by natural materials that will be just as efficient. Our customer wants to move away from synthetic materials to greener one. Silicone replacement was and remain a big challenge especially for make-up formulas. The foundation formula chassis evolved compared to what has been formulated over the last 30 years, which creates new tests to be implemented, new ingredient behaviors, new interactions that must be pushed to the level of product development.

As mentioned earlier, we must integrate the CSR prism from the beginning of the product development stage. Big challenge but essential in the years to come.

• On the beginning of 2024:

  • How do you see the year 2024? trend, innovation?

The year 2024 in terms of business is still a big question mark, in line with the end of last year and this first half. We feel a strong versatility of the market, with orders in the last minute: a very limited visibility.

At the middle of the year we still have difficulty to see a trend that emerges to know how we will end the year… We still have very little visibility on what the business will be at the end of the year and beyond.

In 2024, our functional materials are very popular and appreciated because they meet the needs of formulators and new formulation frameworks. Our gelling agents remain an ideal solution to stabilize E/H tinted emulsions or boost the SPF performance of certain sunscreen formulas.

Our silica beads also meet various needs for many different applications from make-up formulas to skincare and sun protection formulas and of course all hybrid products mixing these different applications.

Finally, our sensory charges such as SERICITE and its treated versions offer our customers an interesting alternative to talc.

The topic of sun protection is omnipresent in 2024 and constitutes a strategic axis of innovation in the field of cosmetics. It is also a strategic focus for MIYOSHI with innovative launches schedule for end of 2024.

• Future positioning:

  • What are the main goals you want to achieve in the future?

  • What strategies do you have to strengthen your market position?

 This is in line with what we saw on 2023 and post-covid, namely, working to always gain flexibility and agility.

Continue to strengthen our service, I think that our customers have more and more need for services associated with the manufacture of ingredients.

Continue to work on diversification. We have seen during the COVID how important is to diversify its activity in the cosmetic industry. Use our Make-up expertise to penetrate new market, new sector, new application beyond Make-up.

I talked about this earlier, but it is really a fundamental pillar of future development: fully integrate the CSR needs and environmental challenges of today and tomorrow in our developments.

And continue to work on naturalness so that we can finally combine performance and naturalness.