Despite news of a two-week truce in the war among the United States, Israel, and Iran, anxiety over the supply of cosmetic containers persists. Small and midsize cosmetics companies that run indie brands are especially on edge. With naphtha prices, a raw material for cosmetic containers, soaring, supply is being channeled mainly to large corporations that place bulk orders. In this situation, beauty brands that tout eco-friendliness or wellness are relatively relieved.
According to the retail industry on the 9th, even with news of a 20-day truce in the Middle East war, the supply of plastic cosmetic containers remains shaky. A representative at Company A, which operates an indie brand, said, "We have to reorder containers within three weeks, but it seems unlikely we will get them at prewar prices, so we are grappling with cost control," and added, "Large corporations may have relatively steady supply, but our order volumes are small, so we might be pushed down the priority list and not get containers on time." A representative at Company B said, "We still have inventory, so we are watching the situation," and added, "We can't suddenly change packaging, and plastic containers were the cheapest, allowing us to meet price points, but if this continues, we'll have no choice but to consider a price increase. If that happens, we don't know if consumers and distributors will accept it."
Recently, the international price of naphtha surpassed $140 per Barrel. Until before the United States and Israel attacked Iran in March this year, prices averaged around $60, more than doubling. Naphtha is such a key feedstock that it is nicknamed "the mother of plastic." Korea imports 45% of its naphtha demand, and 77% of that comes from the Middle East, making the country more vulnerable to this war.
Meanwhile, some corporations are free from the plastic container problem. A prime example is a handful of wellness cosmetic brands that have long used recycled plastic for containers. Aromatica, a cosmetics company grounded in aromatherapy, has applied clear PET (polyethylene terephthalate) made from recycled feedstock to cosmetic containers since 2021. Currently, 98% of the PET containers sold by Aromatica are made solely from recycled materials.
The same goes for the vegan beauty brand Yullip. Yullip began in 2017 with natural, organic lipsticks that oppose animal testing and do not use tar dyes, and now sells vegan lip balm and minimalist skincare products. Yullip, which has promoted its vegan beauty products mainly on overseas platforms such as Amazon, also introduced containers made from recycled plastic early on. The domestic indie brand Torriden has likewise used more than 50% recycled plastic in containers for its Dive-In Serum and Soothing Cream. Torriden is a clean beauty, wellness skincare brand that emphasizes gentle yet effective ingredients.
What these brands have in common is their focus on eco-friendliness and wellness. They chose to use recycled plastic containers as a management decision to sacrifice part of their costs to protect their brand identity. Plastic made with naphtha is about 1.5 to 3 times cheaper than recycled-plastic feedstock.
A beauty industry representative said, "Because competition among indie brands is fierce, when you push price innovation to the forefront, you naturally have to cut the expense that goes into containers," and added, "But brands armed with wellness or values-based consumption are freer in such decision-making, so they were able to adopt alternative materials early."
Some beauty brands are considering diversifying packaging in response to the surge in plastic prices. Beyond recycled plastic, leading options include paper (pulp) and bamboo. A beauty industry representative said, "We had been reviewing all these as part of environmental protection, but we couldn't decide easily because of price," and added, "Even if the war ends, if a prolonged high oil price era continues, we will have no choice but to make a management decision to switch to alternative containers."