Unilever’s sales in China ‘to grow 15 percent annually’

Unilever's annual China sales have reached 1 billion euros ($1.46 billion) and will grow at least 15 percent a year, fuelled by rising affluence in the world's third-largest economy, a senior executive of the consumer goods giant has said. 

But Unilever sees growing competition from increasingly sophisticated local players as well as international rivals, according to the company’s China president Alan Jope. 

‘I'm not doing a good job if (sales) growth doesn't reach 15 or 16 percent,’ Jope told Reuters on the sidelines of a conference in Shanghai. He did not say how fast sales grew this year, but the company reported earlier that revenue from China doubled to $1 billion between 2004 and 2007. 

Unilever has invested more than $1 billion in China since 1986, and has benefited from rising wealth and increasing recognition of foreign brands in a country where retail sales has been growing about 16 percent annually in the past two decades. 

Opportunities remain abundant in China, as per capita consumption is still low, while urbanization and social changes are creating new consumer demand, Jope said. 

For example, as more Chinese farmers move into cities, there are more surfaces and toilets that need cleaning, he said, while explosive growth in the number of Chinese female office workers is boosting demand for beauty products.