Hyaluronic acid producers benefit from beauty boom

Zhao Yan, president of Bloomage Biotech, said the company's key technologies in producing hyaluronic acid through microbial fermentation not only improve product quality, but also significantly increase productivity and reduce production costs.

The average yearly revenue growth of Haohai Biological Technology, which mainly focuses on medical products, was 34.6 percent from 2016 to 2018, its prospectus showed.

Its main business revenue was 860 million yuan, 1.35 billion yuan and 1.55 billion yuan in 2016, 2017 and 2018, respectively.

As for IMEIK, its revenue was 141 million yuan, 222 million yuan and 321 million yuan in 2016, 2017 and 2018 respectively, with its gross profit margin consistently exceeding 85 percent.

While the foreign brand Restylane takes up about 40 percent of China's hyaluronic acid fillers market, Bloomage Biotech's Biohyalux, accounts for 25 percent, according to the Frost& Sullivan China report.

Zhao said Chinese companies have paid growing attention to improving product quality in recent years, and customers now have good faith in Chinese hyaluronic acid brands.

"Through increased investment in research and development and talent, as well as well-regulated management and production activities, the quality of Chinese companies' hyaluronic acid products has been largely improved in recent years," she said.

Zheng Wen, executive president of a clinic under Reindeer Beauty, a Beijing-based startup chain of cosmetic surgery clinics focusing on medium to small cities, said the China market was dominated by foreign brands about 10 years ago, while now Chinese brands are also popular.

"Average Chinese people who are sensitive to prices often choose Chinese brands because they are cheaper compared with foreign ones," she said.