the French cosmetic industry very delicate to relocate – liberation
New Yorkers will have to get used to it. The small bottle of 50 ml of Dior’s « Wild Water » eau de toilette « sold $ 110 in the SAKS FIFTH avenue department store – the equivalent of the Galeries Lafayette – will increase to 133 dollars, if the increase in American customs duties is fully reflected. Thursday, April 3, in the morning, the main French cosmetics groups did not jostle themselves to put observers and consumers to their exhibition on the American market.
Starting with the number 1 of France, L’Oréal, and its 43.5 billion euros in international turnover, including 11.8 billion in North America with an increase of 5.5 % in 2024. The French giant did not wish to comment The consequences of the Trumpian decision. However, it seems difficult to imagine that the increase in customs duties will have no effect, since the United States is the first group export market.
Same silence at Clarins, the French specialist in care products that achieves a part-confidential hold-of its 2 billion turnover in the territory of the United States. Unlike the Oréal, it has no production site, which makes the effect of these customs measures even more violent. Today, the French cosmetic industry has two thirds of its export sales, including 3 billion in the United States. Half of this figure is based solely on The perfume sector.
However, these are precisely products for which the Made in France is decisive to trigger purchases. Provence lavender, chin lemons or even Brittany algae can hardly find substitutes to relocate a production on the other side of the Atlantic. Without counting, as explained by a subcontractor of a large perfume company, that the active ingredients as in the pharmaceutical industry also come from China.
It also appears, according to the federation of beauty companies, that France is also a large importer of American cosmetic products, which opens the way to possible retaliatory measures.
