Mexico Natural Care Products

In Mexico, organic and natural personal care products have increasing potential for U.S. exporters due to the international trend toward environmentally-friendly products. Although it still represents roughly ten percent of the total market for personal care products it is expected to continue growing.  In Mexico, the most sought-after categories in the natural personal care segment include skincare, hair preparations, baby products, and soaps and related natural disinfecting products.

U.S. brands interested in selling to the Mexican consumer must be aware that they are competing with several natural and organic Mexican brands. These Mexican natural ingredient brands invest in well-designed packaging and can compete with international brands of the same category while doing their own marketing and distribution. Some of these well-established natural brands include Agua de Nube, AHAL, Aloe Vida, Loredana, MomToMom, Pai Pai, Skin Matters, The Natural Blend, TRUE Beauty, Xabone, and Xamania. The challenge for the U.S. exporter is to compete on price with locally-made products benefitting from considerably lower freight costs.

Unlike the United States, there are no large natural products retailers with national or even regional presence in Mexico. High-quality Mexican and imported natural personal care products are sold at higher-end retailers such as grocery stores in certain high-income areas of the largest cities and department stores. Smaller all-natural grocers throughout Mexico are also a point of sale for natural personal care products.  

E-commerce is gaining momentum and is a good channel for U.S. brands that are already recognized by the Mexican consumer. Nevertheless, they might not be as a successful approach for small companies that only sell online in the United States. Direct sales cannot be made from the U.S. to the Mexican consumer as personal care products must comply with import and labeling procedures.  Please contact us directly for further information on these processes.

Regulations for natural and organic personal care products do not differ from regular personal care products and usually only entail complying with labeling requirements. The most common challenge faced by imported products is therapeutic claims in the labeling. In these cases, products require thorough testing at Mexican government approved laboratories.  

It is important to note that in the natural product sub-sector there is great uncertainty and expectation regarding personal care products containing cannabidiol (CBD) oil. As of September 2020, permits for the import of personal care products containing CBD oil are not being granted. Involvement in exportation and importation of CBD may subject you to criminal penalties until both the United States and Mexico have finalized their regulatory regimes. Please contact us for the latest developments.

For more information please contact: Yazmin Rojas, Commercial Specialist at CS Monterrey, Mexico at Yazmin.Rojas@trade.gov