‘We love our business in Türkiye’: Unilever CEO

Gamze Şener-ISTANBUL

Unilever is at its absolute best in some of the countries in the world, and Türkiye is in a very elite club, says Alan Jope, the CEO of the consumer goods giant.

“We love our business in the emerging markets, and we particularly love our business in Türkiye,” Jope said.

Unilever has operations in 192 countries, Jope said, adding they are used to being in countries in all different macroeconomic conditions.

Jope said that the assessment he made in January is still relevant today. “So, we still believe we’re past the point to peak inflation, but not yet to peak prices.”

At the start of the year, he commented that they are used to high inflation levels from doing business in places such as Argentina or Türkiye.

“And just to be clear, price increases are the last thing we want to do, but because of the combination of current commodity increases and currency devaluation, we’re having to take quite significant price increases in Türkiye,” Jope said.

He also said they are ready for either outcome in the elections to be held in Türkiye in May.

“Whatever the people decide should be executed peacefully and in an orderly way, that’s what we would hope for. I hope democracy wins.”

‘A volatile year’

The year 2022 was a good one for Unilever, Jope said, noting that the company grew 9 percent and their turnover reached 60.1 billion euros.

Jope stressed that he expects continued volatility. “It’s going be a volatile year. We’re expecting another good year of growth. So, we will actually see margin growth this year, but…modest margin growth.”

Nutrition and ice cream are facing more severe costs and increased pressure than the others, Jope said. “So, food commodities remain very expensive, whereas petrochemical-derived commodities have eased a little bit could change, but that’s the difference between the business groups this year.”