HCM CITY — More than 200 Vietnamese and foreign cosmetics firms will showcase their new technologies and innovations at the 2nd Mekong Beauty Show in HCM City from June 14 to 16.

The annual business-to-business beauty exhibition has established a platform for industry players in the entire supply chain covering beauty and cosmetics, hair and nails, herbal and health, and OEM and packaging, Joy Zou, international marketing manager of Informa Exhibitions, the organiser, said.

The South Korean beauty industry would be the most important driver of the event, with 110 firms from that country exhibiting more than 400 brands, Zou told a press meeting on June 7.

More than 150 buyers from Việt Nam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar are expected to visit the event to source products and seek new partnerships, she said.

The three-day expo at the Saigon Exhibition & Convention Centre is expected to attract more than 12,000 visitors.

Trần Quang Thắng, director of the HCM City Institute of Economics and Management, said Việt Nam’s cosmetics industry with annual growth of 30 per cent offers enormous potential for foreign and local firms.

The country’s middle class is set to become 33 million strong by 2020, and is looking for healthier and higher quality brands, he said.

Seeing the huge potential of the beauty market, most premium foreign brands have entered the market and now dominate all categories of the industry, he said.

But counterfeit beauty products have also flooded the market, with more than 50 per cent of products sold online being substandard or fake, he added.

Bart Verheyen, commercial director of beauty, health and wellbeing retail chain MEDiCARE, said its number of stores would be expanded to 100 by the end of this year from the current 72 to meet the rising demand.

The chain enjoyed growth of 30 per cent last year, he said. — VNS