Unqualified service providers impairing sector's development

While China's hair transplant industry is booming, unqualified service providers, misinformed customers and irrational competition are impairing its long-term development, industry insiders said.

Revenues of the five largest hair transplant companies are estimated to total about 2 billion yuan ($290 million) to 3 billion yuan a year, accounting for less than 20 percent of the total market, while the rest is taken up by numerous small and even unqualified service providers, resulting in fierce competition, according to Liu Zheng, CEO of Lotus, a major chain of private hair transplant clinics in China.

Private hair transplant facilities have developed rapidly in recent years due to exploding market demand and a lack of direct competition from the public hospital system, Liu said.