Unilever's Asia growth

Unilever's Asia growth

THE HAGUE (AFP): The rate of growth experienced by food and consumer group Unilever in Asia has been halved, company chairman Morris Tabaksblat said in an interview published Saturday.

The Anglo-Dutch giant registered growth in Southeast Asia of around eight to 12 percent. "That has been halved," Tabaksblat told the Trouw newspaper.

"If Southeast Asia falls back as an important growth stimulus, then that has a negative effect on our company," he warned. Unilever is due to publish its third-quarter results on Friday.

When first-half results were published in August, Tabaksblat said a slowdown in consumption in Asia, which Unilever felt particularly in Thailand and Indonesia, had hit business and warned the turmoil would be a factor in the second half of 1998.

He said Unilever, which has interests in food, detergent and beauty products, tried to combat financial crises by offering products in all price ranges.