Risdon taps into China growth with Shanghai HQ

The company says that the offices will serve as a means to support the company's future sales in the country as well as providing a platform from which it hopes to expand through future mergers and acquisitions in the personal care packaging segment. The company says that it will also give it the opportunity to source everything from raw materials through to finished products from the heavily industrialized Shanghai region to supply its operations in North America. The Connecticut-based company specializes in the supply of cosmetics components, including, caps and closures, as well as packaging for fragrance packaging and color cosmetics including eye care products, compacts and lipsticks. The decision to better position itself in the China market comes at a time when the China economy and, in turn, the retail landscape, are firing on all four cylinders. This has seen disposable income surge by an average of 11.3 per cent over the last five years, which in turn is also leading to double digit growth in the personal care market. Currently Kline Group estimates that the value of the China skin care market at the manufacturing level alone is valued at $720m and is growing so fast it should exceed the size of the US market within the next few years. All this growth is naturally leading to a huge demand for personal care packaging, which Ridson is aiming to tap into. The company unveiled the plans for its new office at last month's Cosmoprof-Shanghai trade show, when company CEO Thomas Frater asserted that China was "firmly in it strategic plans for future expansion". Located in the center of Shanghai, on Long Hua Road, the office will be headed by Faqueer Ahmed the company's executive vice president international.