Baku, Azerbaijan, May 27
Trend:
Iran imported 980 tons of various cosmetic and healthcare products during the first month of the current fiscal year (March 20-April 21), according to the country’s customs administration data.
The value of the imported products accounted to $11 million, 14 percent less year-on-year, meanwhile the volume of the imported cosmetic and healthcare products witnessed a huge fall by 67 percent.
Iran imported of various cosmetics legally from 13 countries including Belarus, Russian, Japan, Italy, France, Germany, Belgium, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, Spain, Turkey, South Korea and Greece in the one-month period.
Meanwhile according to the reports, legal imports make only about 20 percent of the total cosmetics imports, because 80 percent account for illegal imports of cosmetics.
Some estimates put the value of the smuggled cosmetic products into the country at $1 billion per year.
Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency reported in 2015 that the country takes in 30 percent of the Middle East's cosmetic products imports, which amounts to $2.1 billion a year.
This is while an international studies office in London has put Iran's consumption of cosmetics at $5 billion a year. The report says that most of the imported products are smuggled into the country.
The number of Iranian women using the products is estimated to stand at 17 million.
At least 80 percent of Iran's cosmetics market is filled with products from China, Turkey, and Thailand.
Statistics show that while students share a big chunk of the consumption of cosmetics, the age for using the products has dropped to 14.
