Oils specialist in UK set to profit from South American cosmetics boom

The Kerfoot group recently expanded into Poland, which saw it enjoy a sales boost of over half a million GBPs, and has stated it is now hoping to secure a regional distributor over the Atlantic to allow it to enter the South American market.

The group’s commercial director, Thomas Kerfoot, reportedly told the Yorkshire Post that “the cosmetic bubble is blowing up over there, and we want a slice of the action​.”

Strong opportunity ​

The firm has noted an intention to focus on Brazil, the UK’s largest Latin American trading partner, with trade between the two countries now worth £5.1bn, according to UK government statistics.

Expansion in Brazil looks set to be a savvy move for the UK firm, with recent research showing that Brazilian women spend 11 times more of their annual income on beauty products than UK women.

As the third largest cosmetics market in the world, it is an ideal focal point for manufacturers looking to make a profit.

Brazilian bubble​

In terms of cosmetics, opportunities for growth in Brazil are certainly still plentiful, according to Daniel Oliveira, business manager at ABIHPEC, who spoke recently to the Cosmetics Design team.

“In skin care we’ve seen a very good growth in Brazil – we used to be the 7th biggest market, and now we’re the 5th biggest market, so we believe there’s a huge opportunity​,” the Brazilian cosmetics industry association representative confirmed.

Oliveira picked out multifunction products as a key upcoming trend, and also highlighted facial care and hand care as both being categories with strong growth potential, with particular room for premium products.

“We have about 96% of the market as a masstige market, with only 4% a premium market​,” he said. “So we believe for the next two or three years we will have a more representative percentage on the premium market​.”