PCHi 2026, officially known as the Personal Care and Homecare Ingredients Exhibition 2026, was held from 18 to 20 March 2026 at Hangzhou Grand Convention & Exhibition Center. As a premier professional event serving the global cosmetics, personal care and homecare ingredients industry, it covered an exhibition area of over 70,000 square meters, attracting more than 860 leading enterprises from 26 countries and regions and over 50,000 professional visitors worldwide.
Focused on cosmetic raw materials, the exhibition showcased a complete industrial chain including R&D, testing and certification, production equipment, packaging materials and supporting solutions, while integrating exhibitions, professional forums and award events. During the show, a variety of high-quality activities were held, covering policy interpretation, technological innovation, formula development, efficacy evaluation, new product launches and the PCHi Fountain Awards, which effectively promoted technical exchanges and business cooperation among global industry practitioners and further consolidated its role as a core trade and innovation platform for exploring the Chinese and Asia-Pacific personal care and homecare market.
AAK presented our innovative and sustainable personal care ingredients at Booth 2A60 in Hall 2. As a global leading supplier of natural plant-based raw materials, we focus on providing high-performance, skin-friendly and eco-friendly solutions including specialty shea butter products, high-performance natural emollients and ester oils for skincare, hair care, body care and color cosmetics. Our exhibition booth highlighted how we are helping brand customers create safe, stable, and environmentally responsible formulations with excellent sensory properties while supporting the low-carbon and sustainable development of the personal care industry.
At this year's exhibition, we noticed the following prevalent trends:
Simultaneously driving precision and specialization in market segments
The core of product competition is evolving into a dual victory based on both scientific efficacy and sensory experience. On one hand, skincare with scientific efficacy is developing towards precision and customization. The concept of scientific skincare is becoming widespread, and personalized solutions for different skin types and scenarios have become standard. The aim is to meet extreme needs through "one person, one solution" precision matching. On the other hand, differentiation in sensory design has become the key to breakthrough. Innovations such as phase-changing textures, misting sensations, and customized fragrances are redefining user experience.
Functionality verification has replaced conceptual marketing and has become the mainstream demand, and formulations need to be supported by human body tests and third-party data, promoting the industry to develop in a more scientific and standardized direction.
In terms of compliance, the empirical evaluation of functionality, the high-throughput nature of toxicological testing, and the transparency of raw material traceability are all driving the industry to establish a more stringent risk prevention and control system. Only by internalizing green production and compliance safety as core competitiveness can enterprises gain a firm foothold in the increasingly regulated market environment.
Efficacy-oriented precise care and the application of oils have shifted from basic moisturizing to multi-functional targeted improvement.
The trend of "one ingredient with multiple effects" also drives the optimization of oil formulations. Multifunctional oils that integrate moisture, anti-oxidation and anti-inflammatory properties simplify the formulation system while reducing production costs, meeting the market's demand for efficient and concise products.
Green chemistry serves as the foundation, with compliance and safety set as hard bottom lines
Under the backdrop of carbon goals and increasingly strict regulations, sustainability and compliance are no longer just bonus points; they have become the bottom line for the survival and development of the cosmetics industry. The green chemistry concept has penetrated the core of the supply chain, from the widespread adoption of sustainable raw materials, the application of green electricity energy, to the popularization of degradable and recyclable packaging. Full-chain low-carbonization has become the mainstream standard.
AI and multidisciplinary integration, reshaping the research and development logic and quality control standards
The deep integration of technology and digitalization is completely reshaping the research and production paradigms in the cosmetics industry. Artificial intelligence has fully entered the entire process from assisting product development, formulation optimization to efficacy testing and intelligent quality control, significantly shortening the research and development cycle and reducing the cost of trial and error.
Synthetic biology has moved from the laboratory to large-scale production, leading to a new revolution in raw material innovation, especially in the field of cosmetic oils.
Traditional plant-extracted oils are restricted by resource limitations and environmental factors, while synthetic biological technologies such as microbial fermentation enable the mass production of high-purity, sustainable bio-based oils including recombinant squalane and bio-wax esters. These innovative oils not only solve the supply shortage of rare natural oils but also have better stability and skin compatibility.
Technological empowerment has greatly enhanced the application value of oils.
New delivery technologies such as liposomes and nanovesicles solve the problem of transdermal absorption of fat-soluble active ingredients, greatly improving the bioavailability of retinol, coenzyme Q10 and other ingredients, and making the efficacy of oil-containing products more significant. In terms of sensory experience, lightweight liquid oils and non-greasy ester oils have become the mainstream of formula design, realizing the balance of moisturizing effect and refreshing skin feel, getting rid of the heavy and sticky texture of traditional oil-based products, and meeting consumers' personalized needs for product use experience.
Sustainable development runs through the entire industrial chain, and green and low carbon has become the bottom-line requirement for oil raw materials and product production.
The industry strictly abides by sustainable standards such as RSPO, which greatly reduces the carbon footprint of products. Meanwhile, biodegradable surfactants combined with green oils are widely used in cleaning and personal care products, realizing the unity of cleaning efficacy, skin friendliness and environmental protection.
In terms of market segmentation, the booming baby care and pet care markets put forward higher requirements for oil safety.
Baby care products prioritize mild, non-irritating natural vegetable oils, avoiding mineral oils and irritating synthetic ingredients to ensure safe use. Pet care products develop special low-sensitivity oil formulas for the skin characteristics of dogs and cats, focusing on anti-inflammatory, antipruritic and hair care effects, and strictly control ingredient safety to adapt to pet licking habits.
In general, PCHi 2026 reflects that the personal care industry is moving towards an era of intelligence, green chemistry and precision. Oil-related technological innovations, as an important part of industrial upgrading, together with synthetic biology, AI R&D and sustainable concepts, will drive the industry to break through bottlenecks and move towards a higher-quality development stage.
Meet us at in-cosmetics booth 3M20 to learn more and explore our products.
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