Malaysia’s open government data lists every cosmetic product with an approved NPRA notification and every approved cosmetic manufacturer. We analysed both files to see how large, how new and how concentrated the market is — and who actually makes the products.
Disclosure: This article is published by ORIZI Group and may refer to our own manufacturing experience, services and capabilities. External factual claims are supported by cited sources. Dr Orizi (M) Sdn. Bhd., an ORIZI Group company, is one of the approved manufacturers in the dataset analysed here.
Key takeaways
- Scale: 242,678 notification records held by 7,486 companies, and 629 approved manufacturer records belonging to 481 companies (snapshot of 27 September 2026).
- Newness: 25.4% of valid notifications were first filed in 2026 (to 27 September) and 34.1% in 2025.
- Concentration: the largest 1% of holders (75 companies) hold 45.3% of all notifications, while 57.9% of holders have five or fewer.
- Outsourcing: only 5.5% of notifications are held by a company that is itself on the approved-manufacturer list.
- Geography: Selangor has 42.8% of approved manufacturer records; Selangor, Johor, Pulau Pinang and Kedah together have 75.0%.
What do the NPRA open-data files contain?
Two datasets on Malaysia’s open-data portal, data.gov.my, are exact copies of administrative records in the QUEST3+ system of the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA), updated daily. We downloaded both on 27 September 2026, recorded their checksums and analysed them in Python.
| Dataset | What one row is | Rows | Fields |
|---|---|---|---|
| Notified Cosmetic Products | One product notification | 242,678 | Notification number, product name, holder, notification date |
| Approved Manufacturers of Cosmetic Products | One approved manufacturer record (a company can appear more than once) | 629 | Company, state, postcode, phone, address |
Source: data.gov.my, files last modified 27 September 2026, retrieved the same day.
Three definitions make the numbers readable. A cosmetic notification is the NPRA record that allows a cosmetic product to be placed on the Malaysian market, and under NPRA’s Guidelines for Control of Cosmetic Products in Malaysia it is valid for two years. A cosmetic notification holder (CNH) is the locally incorporated company responsible for placing the product on the market, and NPRA states that the CNH may or may not be the product owner. An approved cosmetic manufacturer, in this dataset, is a company listed by NPRA as a manufacturer of cosmetic products with an active licence. The notification file has no manufacturer column: it shows who is responsible for each product, not who made it.
How many cosmetic products are notified in Malaysia?
On 27 September 2026 the notification file held 242,678 records, held by 7,486 distinct companies once company names are standardised (upper case, spaces and punctuation removed). The four digits after NOT in a notification number encode the year and month of first filing (NOT26… is 2026): for 99.8% of notifications numbered 2025 or 2026, that year and month match the notification date in the file, so we used the number to date each product.
| First filed | Notifications still valid | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 (1 January to 27 September) | 61,601 | 25.4% |
| 2025 | 82,794 | 34.1% |
| 2024 | 37,055 | 15.3% |
| 2023 | 21,763 | 9.0% |
| 2022 | 12,876 | 5.3% |
| 2021 or earlier (back to 2010) | 26,588 | 11.0% |
Year read from the notification number. One record without a notification number is excluded from this table.
Malaysia’s cosmetic register is overwhelmingly recent: 59.5% of valid notifications were first filed in 2025 or 2026. The pace of new filings is steady. Notifications first filed in 2025 and still valid average about 6,900 a month; January to August 2026 averages 6,933. Because a notification lapses unless renewed every two years, the thin tail before 2023 reflects turnover, not only growth.
How many approved cosmetic manufacturers does Malaysia have?
The manufacturer file had 629 rows. A row is an approved record rather than a company: the same company can appear up to four times when it has more than one site or address. The 629 rows carry 508 distinct spellings, 502 when letter case is ignored and 481 after spaces and punctuation are removed, which is our working count of companies. 364 companies appear once and 117 appear two to four times; 11 companies have records in more than one state.
| State | Manufacturer records | Share of records | Companies |
|---|---|---|---|
| Selangor | 269 | 42.8% | 206 |
| Johor | 69 | 11.0% | 54 |
| Pulau Pinang | 69 | 11.0% | 55 |
| Kedah | 65 | 10.3% | 47 |
| W.P. Kuala Lumpur | 44 | 7.0% | 34 |
| Perak | 31 | 4.9% | 25 |
| Negeri Sembilan | 20 | 3.2% | 18 |
| Kelantan | 19 | 3.0% | 16 |
| Melaka | 16 | 2.5% | 12 |
| Sabah | 6 | 1.0% | 6 |
| Terengganu | 6 | 1.0% | 5 |
| Pahang | 3 | 0.5% | 3 |
| Sarawak | 3 | 0.5% | 2 |
| Perlis | 1 | 0.2% | 1 |
| State not given | 8 | 1.3% | 8 |
| Total | 629 | 100% | 481 |
Company counts by state add up to 492 because 11 companies appear in two states.
Cosmetic manufacturing is concentrated around the Klang Valley, with secondary clusters in Johor, Pulau Pinang and Kedah. Selangor alone has more approved manufacturer records (269) than the next four states combined (247).
Who holds Malaysia’s cosmetic notifications?
Notification holding is a long tail with a heavy head. The median holder has four notifications and the mean is 32.4, because a small group of large holders carries much of the register.
| Notifications per holder | Holders | Share of holders | Notifications | Share of notifications |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1,961 | 26.2% | 1,961 | 0.8% |
| 2 to 5 | 2,377 | 31.8% | 7,478 | 3.1% |
| 6 to 20 | 1,810 | 24.2% | 19,446 | 8.0% |
| 21 to 100 | 966 | 12.9% | 42,424 | 17.5% |
| 101 to 500 | 290 | 3.9% | 57,842 | 23.8% |
| More than 500 | 82 | 1.1% | 113,527 | 46.8% |
| Total | 7,486 | 100% | 242,678 | 100% |
The largest 75 holders — the top 1% — hold 45.3% of all notifications, and the top 10% hold 80.9%. At the other end, 1,961 companies hold a single product. For a new brand, that is the realistic starting point: one to five products first, then expansion once a format sells.
Do factories hold the notifications, or do brands?
Mostly brands. Matching standardised names, 298 of the 481 approved manufacturers hold at least one notification in their own name, and those own-name notifications total 13,241 — 5.5% of the register. The other 94.5% are held by companies not on the approved-manufacturer list: brand owners, distributors, importers and marketing companies. NPRA’s guidelines anticipate this: the holder is responsible for the product on the market and a separate contract manufacturer may make it — the model described in our article on the manufacturer behind private-label brands.
So the public file cannot tell a buyer who makes a product. The manufacturer appears only in NPRA’s QUEST3+ product search, one query at a time.
What kinds of cosmetic products are being notified?
The register has no product-category field, so we classified product names by keyword (for example SHAMPOO, SPF, LIPSTICK, EAU DE PARFUM), in a fixed order so that each notification is counted once. This is an approximation, not NPRA’s official list of cosmetic categories: names carrying only a brand and shade stay unclassified, and general words such as CREAM or GEL default to skincare.
| Product group (keyword-based) | Notifications | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Skincare (face and general creams, lotions, serums) | 71,834 | 29.6% |
| Eye and face make-up | 44,232 | 18.2% |
| Hair and scalp care | 23,012 | 9.5% |
| Fragrance | 22,176 | 9.1% |
| Lip products | 20,453 | 8.4% |
| Body cleansing and soap | 11,438 | 4.7% |
| Body, hand and foot care | 9,028 | 3.7% |
| Sun care (including SPF make-up) | 7,291 | 3.0% |
| Oral care | 2,437 | 1.0% |
| Nail care | 2,115 | 0.9% |
| Deodorant and antiperspirant | 1,827 | 0.8% |
| Baby and child care | 1,542 | 0.6% |
| Intimate and feminine care | 624 | 0.3% |
| Unclassified (brand or shade name only) | 24,669 | 10.2% |
ORIZI Group keyword classification of 242,678 product names, each counted once (oral care, fragrance and sun care keywords are checked first).
Make-up is larger than it first looks once lip and eye-and-face products are combined: 64,685 notifications, or 26.7% of the register. Fragrance, at 9.1%, is almost level with hair care (9.5%); our guide to EDP, EDT and body-mist formats compares the main fragrance options. Product names also show ingredient fashions: 11,707 notified names contain the word serum, 3,717 brightening, 2,178 collagen, 1,845 hyaluronic, 1,325 centella or cica, 954 niacinamide and 764 retinol.
How can you check who manufactured a cosmetic product in Malaysia?
- Find the notification number on the pack or listing; it starts with NOT.
- Search the number or product name in NPRA’s QUEST3+; the results list the notification holder and the manufacturer.
- Check that the manufacturer appears on the data.gov.my approved-manufacturer list.
- Ask the factory for its GMP evidence and, where relevant, its JAKIM halal certificate. Our article on NPRA cosmetic GMP and ISO 22716 explains what each document covers.
ORIZI perspective: what the data shows about one factory
Dr Orizi (M) Sdn. Bhd., ORIZI Group’s cosmetics and personal-care factory, holds NPRA cosmetic GMP (since 2024) and appears in the approved-manufacturer file with three records. A QUEST3+ search by manufacturer lists the notifications naming Dr Orizi as manufacturer, which is how any buyer can confirm which factory makes a product. The factory’s compliance routine is described in our report on the 2026 NPRA GMP surveillance audit.
Two lessons from our own record apply to any factory. Holder counts are not client counts: a holder can be a group company, and a factory’s own-name notifications can belong to client brands. And the useful buyer question is not how many products a factory has, but whether it makes products like yours — which QUEST3+ answers product by product. We use these counts to screen and describe, never to rank manufacturers.
Limitations and common misreadings
- Snapshot: figures come from files dated 27 September 2026; the portal updates daily and says the data should not be used for legal action.
- Notifications are not sales: a notified product may never reach a shelf.
- Survivorship: withdrawn, cancelled and lapsed notifications are not in the file, so year counts describe what is valid today, not what was filed each year.
- Name matching: standardising names can merge or split companies.
- Approximate categories: 10.2% of names could not be classified, and some products fall into the wrong keyword group.
- Dates: the notification-date field includes future dates (renewals that take effect later), so products were dated by their notification number instead.
FAQ
How many cosmetic products are registered in Malaysia?
Malaysia’s open data listed 242,678 cosmetic notification records on 27 September 2026. Cosmetics in Malaysia are notified to NPRA rather than registered, and each notification must be renewed every two years to stay on the list.
How many cosmetic manufacturers are there in Malaysia?
NPRA’s approved-manufacturer file on data.gov.my had 629 records on 27 September 2026, belonging to 481 companies once duplicate names are merged. Some companies appear more than once because they have more than one site or address.
Which state has the most cosmetic factories in Malaysia?
Selangor has 269 of the 629 approved cosmetic manufacturer records (42.8%), belonging to 206 companies. Johor and Pulau Pinang follow with 69 records each, then Kedah with 65.
Does the company on an NPRA cosmetic notification have to be the manufacturer?
No. The cosmetic notification holder is the Malaysian company responsible for placing the product on the market, and NPRA states that it may or may not be the product owner. Only 5.5% of notifications in the September 2026 snapshot were held by an approved manufacturer in its own name.
How long is an NPRA cosmetic notification valid?
Two years. NPRA’s Guidelines for Control of Cosmetic Products in Malaysia state that a cosmetic notification is valid for two years, so a product stays on the register only if the holder renews it.
Sources & references
- data.gov.my — Notified Cosmetic Products — 242,678 notification records, field definitions and daily update cycle
- data.gov.my — Approved Manufacturers of Cosmetic Products — 629 manufacturer records with state
- NPRA — Guidelines for Control of Cosmetic Products in Malaysia — two-year validity of a notification; definition of the cosmetic notification holder and product owner
- NPRA — QUEST3+ product search — manufacturer behind each notification; Dr Orizi manufacturer query of 27 September 2026
- NPRA — Illustrative List of Cosmetic Products by Categories — official category reference (our keyword groups are not this list)
Update history: October 2026 — first published.
Planning a cosmetic range for the Malaysian market? See how our cosmetics OEM manufacturing works, ask about notification support through our regulatory affairs team, or send a short project brief.
