Shanghai, China – May 12, 2026 – The 30th CBE China Beauty Expo (CBE Shanghai 2026) kicked off grandly at the Shanghai New International Expo Center (Pudong). As the “core source” of the beauty industry, high-quality domestic and foreign raw material manufacturers made their collective appearance, becoming a major highlight of this expo. The supply chain scale of this expo has exceeded 1,500 exhibitors, among which raw material manufacturers account for an important share. Hundreds of domestic and foreign raw material enterprises gathered, covering all categories of raw materials such as skin care, makeup, hair products, and maternal and infant care, involving plant extracts, synthetic biology, active peptides, functional raw materials and other segmented fields. With innovative technologies and high-quality products, they provide core raw material support for global beauty brands, promoting the transformation of the beauty industry towards technologicalization, greenization and efficacy, and helping the rise of “Shanghai-made” beauty brands.
In this year’s CBE Shanghai, the lineup of participating raw material manufacturers is strong and the categories are complete, building a complete display system of “raw material R&D – application transformation – compliance testing”. It has gathered global leading raw material enterprises and domestic emerging manufacturers, forming a good pattern of Chinese and foreign competition and complementary advantages. In terms of international giants, well-known enterprises such as Beiersdorf and Lubrizol appeared with core innovative raw materials. Among them, Beiersdorf brought its patented whitening ingredient Thiamidol630 – the first approved whitening and freckle-removing agent since the implementation of the “Regulations on the Supervision and Administration of Cosmetics” (National Cosmetics Raw Material Registration No. 20240001). In addition to imported products, the “Shanghai-made” Thiamidol630 Nivea new product will also be approved for launch in the second half of the year, with Shanghai locked as the global premiere location. It also displayed the anti-aging ingredient Epicelline under research, providing cutting-edge technical reference for the industry.
Domestic raw material manufacturers performed brilliantly, showing strong innovation strength, becoming the core force of the expo, and demonstrating the transformation of Chinese raw materials from “follow-up innovation” to “source innovation”. Enterprises such as Vicky Technology, Huahan Biology, Juyuan Biology, Huiwen Biology, Shanhai Innovation, Shanghai Xiancui and Weibolai all showed their core achievements. Vicky Technology focused on peptide raw material R&D, bringing a number of innovative peptide products developed by AI, including Erasin0003, a molecular motor peptide that targets collagen expression, and Weiyusu for immune anti-aging. It has applied for 10 new raw materials, 8 of which are peptide-based, demonstrating the breakthrough of domestic enterprises in segmented fields. Enterprises such as Betaine and Florasis also brought characteristic raw material achievements. Betaine displayed its newly registered “Nitraria tangutorum seed extract”, while Florasis focused on Chinese characteristic plant raw materials, showing patented raw materials such as “soft jade powder” and “peony extract” as well as the achievements of the flower formula database. In addition, the Xinjiang characteristic raw material exhibition area made a wonderful appearance, with characteristic plant raw materials such as roses, lavender and Tianshan snow lotus attracting the attention of many visitors, promoting the development and application of characteristic raw material resources.
Participating raw material manufacturers closely followed industry trends, focused on three major innovation directions, highlighting new momentum for industrial development, and accelerated innovation breakthroughs with the help of Shanghai’s “11 Measures for Cosmetics Industry Development” policy dividends. First, the green and natural trend. Many manufacturers displayed green products such as plant extracts and bio-fermented raw materials. Hangzhou Jiajiale brought natural colored vegetable oil developed by biosynthetic technology, responding to the global “dual carbon” goals and consumers’ demand for natural and safe products. In 2024, the number of newly registered plant raw materials in China reached 42, exceeding chemical raw materials for the first time, highlighting the rise of natural raw materials. Second, technological empowerment and innovation. AI technology is widely used in raw material R&D. Enterprises such as Vicky Technology and Qingran New Care rely on AI technology to achieve efficient upgrading of raw material screening and peptide design. MetaNovas uses AI + knowledge graph technology to quickly screen raw materials with specific effects. Tianwu Technology, relying on its independently developed AIACCLBIO™ protein design artificial intelligence, shortens the R&D cycle of cosmetic raw materials to 6 months, providing efficient and green AI enzyme-catalyzed solutions. Third, efficacy upgrading. Functional raw materials such as active peptides and recombinant collagen have become the focus of the display. Bloomage Biotech brought recombinant collagen raw materials 100% homologous to the human body, and has built a molecular library of more than 40 recombinant collagen molecules, with continuously expanding application scenarios.
In addition to product displays, participating raw material manufacturers also actively participated in high-standard forums and exchange activities held during the expo, discussing core topics such as raw material innovation, compliance development and application transformation. At the CBE International Cosmetic Technology Conference held on May 11, representatives of raw material manufacturers had in-depth exchanges with brands and scientific research institutions, sharing raw material R&D trends and technological achievements, solving industry pain points such as high R&D costs and difficult transformation of new raw materials, and promoting the in-depth integration of raw material innovation achievements with beauty product production. At the same time, the supply-demand docking platform built by the expo allowed raw material manufacturers to accurately connect with global beauty brands and OEM/ODM enterprises, reaching a number of preliminary cooperation intentions on site, breaking down barriers between upstream and downstream of the raw material supply chain, and accelerating the market application of innovative raw materials. In addition, selection activities such as the “CBE China Raw Material Award” focus on the source of industrial innovation, recognize industry innovation benchmarks, and promote the high-quality development of the raw material industry.
Industry insiders said that raw materials are the “core chips” of cosmetics and the core driving force for the innovation of the beauty industry. The gathering of participating raw material manufacturers at CBE Shanghai this time not only shows the latest development achievements of the global beauty raw material industry, but also highlights the rising trend of Chinese raw material enterprises. Driven by the policy dividends of the State Drug Administration’s “Several Provisions on Supporting the Innovation of Cosmetic Raw Materials” and Shanghai’s “11 Measures for Cosmetics Industry Development”, Shanghai has built an optimal ecology for raw material innovation, with a subsidy of 2 million yuan for each registered new raw material and 500,000 yuan for each filed new raw material. Domestic raw material enterprises continue to increase R&D investment. In 2024, domestic enterprises accounted for 84.5% of the newly filed raw materials. In the future, they will continue to promote the high-end and international development of the raw material industry, helping China’s beauty industry enhance its core competitiveness in the global market.
aitike