The sweet smell of excess
- Source: Global Times
- [16:42 July 20 2010]
- Comments
Leading brand name perfumes on sale in Shanghai. Photo: IC
News of harmful and unlisted chemicals in Western-imported perfumes and colognes has drawn mixed reactions from Chinese consumers in Shanghai ranging from surprise to wary acceptance.
Some of the chemicals, discovered by lab tests commissioned by two environmental groups in the United States, were found to cause allergic reactions like headaches, chest tightening, vomiting, as well as stunting hormone development.
On average 14 harmful toxins were found in each of the 17 Western name-brand products tested. But consumers remain unaware of their existence because the specific names of the chemicals are grouped together under the term 'fragrance' and protected as an industry secret under US law.
The majority of perfumes imported into China this May came from America accounting for nearly 14 percent of the market, a total of 2.75 million yuan ($406,141) in sales. Holland and Britain are the next most popular sources.
"I didn't know. It's scary," said Shanghai resident of two years, Violeta Baroudi.
The 27-year-old said she uses perfume at least twice a day.
"I wake up in the morning and use my creams and skincare lotions and then I put perfume on, usually Christian Dior's Poison. I also use Victoria's Secret Vanilla Essence."
Yu Beiyi, says she is an infrequent user of perfume, but still owns five bottles including Chanel No 5 and Bulgari.
"I am a little bit surprised," said the 32-year-old Shanghai native. I hadn't heard about this, and there was no news about it in the Chinese newspapers. I don't have allergies, but they should tell people who are buying the perfume what exactly is in it."
The market
The perfume market in China is a small but burgeoning sector. China has recently surpassed the US as the second largest market for luxury goods worldwide, accounting for 27.5 percent of the global market or $9.4bn in 2009, according to the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Michael Ziegler is director of Asia Development Enterprise (ADE), which markets and distributes European and American perfumes in China, including Calvin Klein, Hugo Boss, Marc Jacobs and Ferragamo Ungaro.
In the twelve years since he co-founded the company, his business operation has expanded by between 25 and 40 percent per annum.
"The perfume market is still in its infancy. At the moment it is about 5 to 6 percent of the cosmetics market. It still has room to mature," said Zeigler.
