Dubai, UAE: Top fragrance houses from across the globe will converge in Dubai next week, as they reveal a whole new world of inspiring scents, perfumes, essential oils and aromas at the Middle East and Africa’s largest trade fair for beauty products, hair, fragrances, and wellbeing.
Beautyworld Middle East 2019 will feature more than 1,780 exhibitors from 66 countries when it opens for the 24th time from 15-17 April at the Dubai International and Convention Centre.
The annual three-day event covers six product groups, including Fragrance Compounds and Finished Fragrances. In this area, 180 exhibitors will span 8,000sqm of exhibition space, a 38 percent year-on-year increase and 22 percent rise in space covered and exhibitor numbers respectively.
That big jump is not surprising, given the region’s rich history and passion for fine fragrances, highlighted by a population that loves to spend on their favourite scents; according to analysts Euromonitor International (EMI), consumers in the Gulf region alone spent US$2.8 billion on fragrances in 2018, with this estimated to grow to US$3 billion in 2022.
It also helps explain why the biggest names in the business are descending upon Dubai next week with their latest creations in tow, including the likes of CPL Aromas, Cosmo International Fragrances, Eurofragance, Givaudan, Firmenich, Iberchem, LUZI, MG Gulcicek, Moellhausen, Parfex, Seluz, Sensient Fragrances, and Symrise.
Most of these, along with French-headquartered exhibitors Argeville, Mane, Robertet, Expressions Parfumees, and Technico Flor, have UAE bases to better serve the insatiable Middle East appetite for fine fragrances and flavours used in a variety of beauty products, from perfumes, soaps and deodorants, to cosmetics, oils, and shampoos.
Others continue to invest in the region, such as Sensient Fragrances, which will use Beautyworld Middle East 2019 to announce the opening of its new 1,000sqm Creative Centre in Dubai.
Pedro Garcia, Sensient’s General Manager for Global Fragrances said the Middle East, and Dubai in particular, can set the tone for potential future trends in global markets: “Consumers in the Gulf countries are the biggest spenders on fragrances per capita in the world, and Dubai has become an olfactive hub with a melting pot of different cultures. Here, not only the global trends in fragrances can be observed, but also in the niche segment.
“Our focus is to support and collaborate with our targeted customers not only in fine fragrances, buy in other categories like Personal Care, Oral Care, Home and Fabric Care. With our new Creative Centre, we’ll be closer to our customers putting our collaboration at a higher level, and we foresee double-digit growth for our company in the coming years.”
Mr. Garcia said Sensient’s main attraction at Beautyworld Middle East 2019 will be centred on is a Fine Fragrances Collection based on one of its star products, Ambrette Seed, otherwise known as natural musk: “At our stand visitors can smell fragrances for personal care and home care products, our ‘best of collection’, and much more,” he added.
“In the Middle East, we see a link between traditional heritage and modernity that translates into twists between true oriental archetypes modernised with European signatures. The region is still craving for storytelling, while there is a worldwide movement toward light, fresh, nature-inspired fragrances with a greater focus on fresher constructions such as light florals, aqueous, marine, ozonic molecules, and colognes.”
Italian company Moellhausen is another Beautyworld Middle East 2019 fragrance exhibitor with designs to provide visitors with an absorbing multidimensional experience. Marketing Manager Valerio Tateo explained: “Moellhausen was founded fifty years ago, and the Company has constantly created new fragrances, managing to inspire a flow of sensations and meanings across generations.
“With the aim of boosting every creative capacity, this year we’ll present 64 fragrances, including four that have been formulated to convey the ‘Sense of Generations’ theme characterising Moellhausen’s presence.”
Tateo said the four generational scents reflect Moellhausen’s own history, and chart its future course. These include scents for Baby Boomers (for those born between the 50s and the early 60s); Generation X (second half of the 60s and the early 80s); Generation Y: the Millennials (between the late 80s and the beginning of the new millennium); and Generation Z – the current and future hyper-connected generations.
“Moellhausen has dedicated a fragrance for every generation, and all of them will be presented at Beautyworld Middle East 2019,” added Tateo. “For us, this is an outstanding opportunity for creative dialogue with the most qualified professionals in the realm of perfumery, fashion and luxury.
“There are ‘active noses’ in this region that keep on being trained as in no other part of the globe. For a company like Moellhausen, with an avant-garde spirit capable of identifying new paths to be pursued and bold olfactory dimensions, it’s extremely satisfactory to operate in this market.”
Spanish-based Iberchem is a regular Beautyworld Middle East fragrance exhibitor with a regional presence for more than three decades. Guillaume Audy of Iberchem’s Corporate Communications department, said globally, consumers have a craving for naturals and for the rose in all its forms.
As for the Middle East and Africa, Audy said, “According to our local perfumer Maria Angeles Santiago, leather notes are currently reinventing themselves and are definitely a trend to keep track of.
“Africa is a fast-growing market and people are integrating more and more fragrances in their consuming habits. Africa has been one of the first markets where Iberchem set foot in the 80’s, and the same goes for the Middle East. We’ve been active in this market since the first days of the company and it has remained this way since.”
Beautyworld Middle East 2019 also features some of the biggest regional fragrance houses, spearheaded by Al Haramain Perfumes. The Saudi-based company’s rich heritage began in Mecca, where it traded Agarwood, Dehnal Oud, and other precious perfume ingredients.
Mohammed Mahtabur Rahman, Chairman and Managing Director of Al Haramain Perfumes, said: “The Middle East is where our journey began in 1970, and it remains an important market due to its relatively steady demand for our products and a cultural heritage which appreciates Oudh.
“Some of our growth comes from people who experience what we create here, and take it back to their home countries, resulting in a nucleus of demand, and a snowball effect resulting in more demand for our products. This is something you don’t get to see much in other international markets.
“Africa is also a growing market with lots of opportunities. We opened our first showroom on the continent in Morocco last year, and we now have four retail locations in Morocco, so it’s a market with great opportunities.”
According to EMI, the retail value of fragrances in the Middle East and Africa in 2018 was US$5.7 billion – 5.5 percent year-on-year increase. This will rise to be worth nearly US$7 billion in 2022.
In the UAE, consumers spent US$610 million on fragrances last year, the largest of all beauty and personal care product categories in the country. This will rise to be worth US$687 million in 2022. Meanwhile in Saudi, the region’s largest market, consumers spent US$1.7 billion on fragrances in 2018, with this estimated to be worth US$1.8 billion in 2022.
Fragrance Compounds and Finished Fragrances is the largest in size of the product groups at Beautyworld Middle East 2019, with the five others covering Hair, Nails, and Salon Suppliers; Cosmetics and Skincare; Personal Care and Hygiene; Machinery, Packaging, Raw Materials, and Contract Manufacturing; and Natural and Organic.
The showpiece event is organised by Messe Frankfurt Middle East, and will this year introduce Front Row, a brand new three-day programme of live makeup and hair demonstrations, where interactive panel discussions on successful business brands will be interspersed with bold shows presenting the biggest and best trends and innovations in global beauty.
Other new features in 2019 include Ready to Beauty, a showcase of brands that cater specifically to the wants and needs of a multicultural audience; and the three-day Beauty Business Conference, covering pertinent topics such as women entrepreneurship in the beauty business and sustainable packaging of beauty products.
All the regular popular features will be back in 2019, including the Battle of the Barbers, a live three-day competition where the UAE’s finest male grooming technicians will battle it out for two coveted titles: the UAE’s Best Barber and UAE’s Best Shave. The Fragrance Station and Nail It! By OPI and Artistic – a nail art competition – are other returning highlights.
With 25 country pavilions, six product groups, and a packed programme of special features, Beautyworld Middle East 2019 will again present an unrivalled platform of business networking and inspirational ideas for an expected audience of 35,000-plus trade buyers and beauty professionals.
More information is available at: www.beautyworldme.com.