Hemp hustle: Asia Horizon eyes ‘tremendous’ opportunity for CBD beauty in China, Japan and Korea

Asia Horizon is Chinese hemp company that distributes Westerns CBD brands in Asia. It also has a license to process CBD in China and is currently developing a facility for this very purpose.

The firm partnered with CBD beauty brand Nordic Cosmetics to enter China via online flagship store on Chinese e-commerce platform Tmall.

Nordic Cosmetics is the cosmetics arm of Nordic Oil, a German firm that claims to be a market leader in the European cannabidiol (CBD} market. This is the brand’s first foray into China and Asia Pacific.

“As an early-mover in Asia’s cannabinoid market, we are especially proud of our partnership with Nordic Cosmetics, which allows us to introduce China’s 1.4 billion consumers to high-quality, premium CBD skin care products that are not yet available to the enormous domestic market,” ​said Brian Sheng, founder and CEO of Asia Horizon.

The next frontier for CBD

Nordic Cosmetics entry into China marks Asia Horizon’s first venture bringing in Western CBD brands into the APAC region.

“We are building the foundation of what we expect will be a tremendous demand for CBD consumer products in China,”​ said Sheng.

He told CosmeticsDesign-Asia​ the company will be rolling out several more Western CBD brands into the Chinese market in the coming months – not just cosmetic products but also CBD health supplements and adult products.

While the company sees the most potential for CBD products in the health space, Sheng noted that cosmetics are easier to introduce to the consumers in Asia.

“You can imagine that in China, consumers may not know CBD is legal as a product. Cosmetics is quite an easy way for consumers to get to know and understand products that are made from cannabis.”​

According to Sheng, there is likely more consumer awareness of CBD beauty in tier-one cities like Shanghai or Beijing, and beyond those cities, there are people that will be exposed to it for the first time.

“Obviously, we are looking at the markets where the regulation is changing to allow for CBD products that have a large consumer base with capital to spend. Asia is seeing the next wave of legalisation and China is the place because it has the largest market so far.”​

Even though the company is focused on China, it is open to other markets such as Japan and Korea.

“Other than China, we are actively looking at Japan and Korea as a possibility​. [For Nordic Cosmetics], our core focus on China and Japan is immediately next on our radar,​” said Sheng.

He added that the company is also keen to work with partners in other potential markets

As the CBD beauty trend progresses, the company expects to see more competition in the market.

“There will only be more and more recognition for the CBD category for skin care and we will see more companies in APAC that will start to look into it,” ​said Sheng.

He added that the company hoped to stand out because of the quality of its portfolio of brands, such as Nordic Cosmetics.

“Nordic is the largest-selling CBD brand in the EU with really good products that we could launch in the market from day one. Looking into the CBD cosmetics category today, we want to give [consumers] a full portfolio of the best-selling products in Europe and the US.”​