RIO DE JANEIRO, Sept 16 (Reuters) - Brazil's beauty industry is booming on a combination of the nation's rising consumer power and Brazilians' passion for looking good.
Following are some facts about the industry.
* Brazil accounted for 8.6 percent of the global market in personal hygiene, cosmetics and perfume in 2008, making it the world's third-largest market behind the United States (15.6 pct) and Japan (10.1 pct). Given its double-digit annual growth rate of recent years, it is expected to overtake Japan in 2010.
* Brazil is the No. 1 market for deodorant sales and is on course to overtake the United States as the world's top market for fragrance, sales of which grew 32.7 percent last year to account for 13.6 percent of the world market.
* Among the leading Brazilian cosmetics companies are Natura, the country's largest, and O Boticario, the world's largest perfume and cosmetics franchising network. Foreign companies Avon Products Inc, Unilever, Procter & Gamble, Colgate Palmolive and L'Oreal have a strong presence in Brazil.
* Among nearly 1,700 companies making beauty and hygiene products in Brazil, 15 have revenue above 100 million reais ($55 million)
* Brazilian beauty product exports jumped 20.5 percent in 2008 to $648 million. The popularity of its products abroad has been boosted by a reputation for pure, natural ingredients such as Acai, an Amazon rain forest berry whose oil is used in anti-aging and after-sun treatments. ($ = 1.82 reais) (Reporting by Stuart Grudgings, editing by Philip Barbara) (Sources: ABIHPEC, Euromonitor International)