HUL chairman Harish Manwani (centre), Tata Metaliks MD Harsh K. Jha (right) and BOC managing director S. Menon in Calcutta on Saturday. Picture by Kishor Roy Chowdhury

Calcutta, Jan. 22: FMCG major Hindustan Unilever (HUL) is closely monitoring the price trends, which are on an upward spiral.

“Commodity prices have been on the rise and it is an area of concern. Palm oil costs have seen a steady increase. Even crude oil prices have been shooting up. This cannot be ignored,” HUL chairman Harish Manwani said on the sidelines of the ‘Think’ series of lectures organised by the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry and KKN Group in association with The Telegraph.

“Despite price rise, our aim will be to seek a balance between market competitiveness and pricing,” he said.

The company, which enjoys a 40 per cent share of the FMCG segments it operates in, is also planning new products.

“We intend to double our business. But we need to study the market readiness and acceptability before introducing a new product,” Manwani said.

HUL, which ventured into the water purifying segment with Pureit, plans to introduce it in emerging international markets in Asia, South Africa and Europe.

“We have been able to take this brand to Bangladesh and Indonesia and intend to take it to other developing countries as well. Even developed countries are on our radar,” he said.

The company is also eyeing the market for concentrated detergents. “We want to lead the development of new categories. But what is important to us is the size of the pie and not the slice of the cake,” he said.

The company aims to source its agricultural raw materials from sustainable sources by 2020.