Monthly April Blog

Amidst the backdrop of the global economic turbulence created by the imposition of the import tariffs in the USA, the international cosmetic raw materials industry gathered in Amsterdam in April for the annual in-cosmetics Global tradeshow. Whilst talk of the impact of the tariffs was high on the list for many conversations, this did not detract from the high number of innovations hitting the market in launches at the show.  In fact, a record-breaking number of 211 new ingredients were unveiled in the Innovation Zone alone: 2025 Beauty Ingredient Trends: Highlights from in-cosmetics Global's Innovation Zone [EXCLUSIVE REPORT] | Cosmetics & Toiletries.  

CCUK was well represented at the show, with directors, Gill Westgate (who was also presenting), Katerina Steventon, Rachael Davison-White and Alastair Gardner all attending as well as members exhibiting. Alastair presided over the DBT’s UK pavilion, with 10 companies sharing the stand (see our full meeting recap later in this newsletter). 

Sadly this was Alastair’s last event as a director of CCUK. Due to his promotion to Head of Trade and Investment, Chemicals for the Department for Business & Trade (DBT), he will be leaving our board but staying closely in touch as an advisor and supporter of CCUK, especially for our international activities. We extend our grateful thanks to him for his years of service to CCUK, including being a founder director of the cluster. 

As we have experienced some unusually hot and sunny weather in the past few weeks, thoughts are turning to sun care and many companies and organisations have been raising awareness of the need for sun protection in their communications. Education is key and CCUK is delighted to announce that we are partnering with CTPA, Boots, Global Cosmetic Developments, Tan Cream and Symrise to sponsor the two-week summer workshop programme for families on the science of sun protection to be held at the Catalyst Science Discovery Centre in Widnes. We are very excited to be involved and our thanks go to our fellow sponsors for their support of this worthwhile project. 

This month saw the annual board get together in person held at the offices of Barentz UK. Thanks once again to the Barentz team for their hospitality for the day. We discussed current and future plans for the activities in all our four pillars and also our member’s annual networking meeting on June 17 at the University of Bradford, which will celebrate our 5th anniversary, see the launch of our redesigned website and the announcement of our third industry careers survey. The event is open to non-members and the theme of the day is education and skills, with a keynote by Henry Lovett of the Royal Society of Chemistry. Register here: Members Networking Day | Cosmetics Cluster UK Before then, we will be participating again at CHEMUK on booth M84 and look forward to receiving members and visitors to the stand for networking and fruitful discussions. Full details of our activities can be found later in the newsletter and on our website events diary page.

This month we welcome new member Stephensons into our network. If you are interested in joining us too, please visit our website by clicking here. Our renewing members this month are Addible and Kelp Crofters. We appreciate your continuing support!

Best wishes from the CCUK Team

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