In next 20 years, food demand will jump 50%: Unilever's Manwani

Harish Manwani, chief operating officer of Unilever, the global consumer products giant, predicted that demand for food would jump by 50 percent in the next 20 years.

In an interview to The Economic Times, he said that substantial efforts, therefore, needed to be made on improving the supply of commodities.He said that high demand from developing countries would continue to push up prices of commodities, in particular food - and that countries would have to learn to cope with inflation. “My own view is that when you’re a developing market, you have to lead from growth and manage the inflation. Not manage inflation and hope for the best on growth,” he said.

[caption id=“attachment_218578” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“High demand from developing countries would continue to push up prices of commodities, in particular food.Reuters”] [/caption]

Galloping demand also threatens to deplete the world’s natural resources. “If developing markets begin to consume like developed markets, we’ll need three planets,” Manwani told the newspaper. “You start consuming like the US, you need five planets.”

He acknowledged, however, that 75 percent of the world’s population cannot be asked to simply stop growing. “On this agenda of commodities and resources, raw materials, NGOS, governments, corporates have to work together on the demand and supply side,” he said.

Nevertheless, Manwani reaffirmed his faith in the potential of developing markets. Fifty percent of Unilever’s revenues come from developing markets; in 10-12 years, that number would rise to 70 percent, he predicted.

For the full interview, click here.