High living standards and rising health consciousness among the consumers are driving the demand for haircare in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region. As a result, the haircare sector in the region is forecast to grow from US$3bn in 2019 to US$38.4bn in 2024, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.1%, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

GlobalData’s report, ‘Opportunities in the Asia-Pacific Haircare Sector’, reveals that the shampoo category led the sector in value terms while hair colorants category is projected to register highest value CAGR at 6.0% over 2019-2024.

The report identifies Vietnam, Thailand, Japan and Malaysia as the high-potential countries based on GlobalData’s unique scoring system, which involves the risk-reward analysis derived from multiple metrics. These metrics include market size and growth assessment, and political, economic, social, and technological assessment of 19 major economies in the APAC region. It states that Japan was the largest market in the haircare sector in the APAC region, in both value and volume terms in 2019. Vietnam is forecast to register the highest value and volume growth during 2019–2024.

Anchal Bisht, Consumer Analyst at GlobalData, says: “APAC is expected to register higher annual volume growth than all other regions during 2019–2024 on account of the rising disposable incomes in growing economies such as India and China. In addition, the value and volume growth in the region will be driven by improving retail infrastructure in large, populous countries such as India, China and Indonesia, and growing demand for better-quality products, with natural and organic claims.”

The styling agents category is expected to see growth in its consumption share across all high-potential countries, except Thailand and Vietnam. Whereas the perms & relaxers category is forecast to remain unchanged in all high-potential countries, except Malaysia where its consumption share is expected to increase.

Procter & Gamble, Unilever and L’Oreal S.A. are the leading market players in the APAC haircare sector. Due to the presence of various leading players and private labels, conditioner, shampoo and styling agents represent most competitive categories. Sensory indulgence, health & wellness and individualism and expression are the top trends that get along very well with the APAC haircare sector.

Ms Bisht concludes: “Growing adoption of local ingredients in haircare products along with increasing consumer focus on specific hair care issues such as hair loss and grey hair is further expected to drive the market in the forecasted time period.”