Cosmetics: June sales in Hainan Province: Tax-free sales up 2%, imports from Japan up 3.6x

Research evidence excerpt

Cosmetics: June sales in Hainan Province: Tax-free sales up 2%, imports from Japan up 3.6x

Global Markets Research

Cosmetics: June sales in Hainan Province 21 July 2026

EQUITY: JAPAN TOILETRIES & COSMETICS

Research Analysts

Tax-free sales up 2%, imports from Japan up 3.6x Japan toiletries & cosmetics

Yuji Ohana - NSC

Apr–Jun tax-free sales in China at Japanese companies: Solid sales in Hainan Province, yuji.ohana@nomura.com

but overall performance hinges on tax-free sales in mainland China +81-3-6703-1143

June tax-free sales: Sell-out slows, even before deregulation runs its course

The Hainan Provincial Bureau of Statistics released June tax-free sales and trade

statistics for the province on 20 July. Tax-free sales (sell-out, all products) were up 2% y-y

in June at only CNY1.51bn (after rising only slightly in May; Figure 1). This year the

Dragon Boat Festival fell on 19–21 June (versus 31 May–2 June last year), but passenger

traffic at the three main airports was also weak, down 5% (down 5% y-y in May), and

sales growth appears somewhat sluggish given that the boost from the relaxation of tax-

free restrictions has yet to run its course. Purchases of high-priced items look to have held

up well, with spending per customer up 1% and spending per purchase up 8%, versus our

respective forecasts of 2% and 6% (Figure 2, Figure 3).

June cosmetics imports: Imports up sharply, imports from Japan up for eighth

straight month

Cosmetics imports (sell-in) were up a sharp 2.5x y-y at CNY1.97bn in June (down 4% in

May). Orders from Japan were 3.6x the prior-year level at CNY420mn (up 48%), marking

an eighth straight month of growth (Figure 4–5). Cosmetics imports from major global

producers were: up 2.7x (up 47% in June) from France, up 2.9x (down 63%) from the UK,