Political turmoil won't affect investments

Unilever will maintain its long-term investments in Thailand as the company is not overly concerned by the country's growing political problems, says global CEO Paul Polman.

''We're not concerned about the current political situation,'' says CEO Paul Polman.

Thailand remains a key Asian market for the Anglo-Dutch consumer product manufacturer, said Mr Polman, during his visit to Bangkok yesterday.

"Unilever has a long history of 102 years in Thailand," he said. "The Thai economy is very dynamic. It has a well-educated and growing population. We're not concerned about the current political situation and view it as a short-term challenge."Jan Zijderveld, Unilever's executive vice-president for Southeast Asia and Australasia, said the company would invest about 10 million (436 million baht) in Thailand this year to upgrade manufacturing facilities, add production lines, improve products such as detergent, ice-cream and liquid personal care, and raise brand awareness.

Unilever has four manufacturing factories at Lat Krabang Industrial Estate which produce personal-care products, detergent, soap and ice-cream, and another facility at Gateway Industrial Estate for food products.

Mr Polman said the company planned to double its business in the next 10 years while proportionally reducing carbon footprint.

Unilever has reduced CO2 emissions, packaging waste, and water use in some parts of its business by between 50% and 70% over the past 10 to 15 years, he said.

Mr Polman said the company would start sourcing all materials from sustainable sources by 2015.

As the world's population would reach 9 billion in the next four decades, food production would need to grow by 50% by 2030, said Mr Polman.

"Scarce natural resources and increasing pollution caused by higher per capita consumption will put more pressure on the global community and may lead to internal strife and regional conflict if urgent action is not taken," he said.

Apart from Unilever, Mr Polman also suggested that companies that are committed to sustainability would grow and thrive in the long term.

"With the world's population reaching 7 billion, we will not be able to continue consuming the world's resources faster than nature's ability to replenish them," he said.

Unilever would also encourage sustainable living for consumers by educating them to modify their consumption behaviours in order to live more sustainability and make more contributions to the environment.