Unilever targets fivefold business increase in nation

JAKARTA, Indonesia - Unilever PLC, the world's second-biggest consumer goods company, plans to increase its business in China to as much as five times its current level, Asia chief Harish Manwani said.

"Our business has been growing steadily by about 18 percent to 19 percent per annum," Manwani, president of Unilever's Asia, Africa and Eastern and Central Europe operations told Bloomberg TV in Jakarta at the World Economic Forum on East Asia. "Our commitment in China is to build a business four- or fivefold" of what it is now, he said, without giving a target date.

The maker of Dove soap and Magnum ice cream has raised prices as costs for commodities such as crude oil gain. The economy of the world's most-populous nation may grow 9.5 percent this year, more than triple the US pace, according to economist estimates compiled by Bloomberg.