Unilever might cut some of its Chinese staff

Consumer product maker Unilever Plc might cut its China staff, despite the company's ongoing growth in the country, the Guangzhou-based newspaper 21st Century Herald reported Wednesday.

Unilever's China branch will support the corporate office's streamlining efforts, while the company's subsidiaries in various regions will be influenced differently, Zeng Xiwen, vice president for Unilever North Asia, was cited in the report.

The Anglo-Dutch producer of Dove body wash and Lipton tea said on November 5 that it plans to cut 2,000 of its staff worldwide and curtail the number of individual products it sells by 30 percent by the end of 2014, in order to become more efficient and to fight the global economic slowdown, according to a Reuters report on November 5.

"In terms of the China branch, we are in a phase of expanding our business," the newspaper quoted Zeng as saying.

"In an overall sense, the number of employees with Unilever's China subsidiary will not be reduced. The corporate office's layoffs might cause small-scale adjustments of the employees here, but it will not have a significant influence on China."

Zeng said the company has established two manufacturing bases in Southwest China's Sichuan Province and North China's Tianjin this year, meaning that the company might add staff in those locations.