Unilever looks to boost China business fivefold

Consumer goods giant Unilever (UL.NYSE, ULVR.LSE) is seeking to increase its operations in China to about five times its current level, Bloomberg reported. Harish Manwani, the firm’s Asia head, said that Unilever has been growing at 18-19% annually in China in recent years, and that about 40% of the company’s revenue came from Africa and Asia last year. However, Manwani did not give a projected date for reaching the firm’s target. Unilever was handed a US$309,000 fine in May when it told local Chinese media that it planned to raise prices due to higher commodity costs, causing panic buying. More broadly, the company warned that profitability would decline in the first half of 2011 because of inflation in emerging markets and “unprecedented” volatility in commodity prices.