Unilever Talks Turkey

Unilever is taking aim at Turkey. The company is expanding its presence in the fast-growing market for consumer goods by building a $200 million manufacturing plant in Konya (Turkey) to increase its capacity for sustainable growth in home and personal care. The development of the plant will enable the company to significantly increase its production capacity to match its growth ambitions and will produce brands including OMO, Domestos, Yumos, Cif, Rinso, Elidor and Dove, according to the company.

The new plant will follow the model Unilever has used in designing factories with ever-lower environmental impacts at sites such as the recently-opened ice cream factory in Konya. The aim is for the home and personal care plant at Konya to be LEED-certified and zero waste-to-landfill, through the use of energy efficient motors, rainwater collection and full water treatment.

Unilever Turkey CEO Mehmet Altinok said, “The overall home and personal care market is about 2.5 billion euros in size and has been growing at 8-9%. It holds significant potential for Unilever and this investment in a new facility in Konya will enable us to capitalize on the potential we see.”

“(This) investment follows an investment of over 95 million euros in our new ice cream factory, also in Konya, which started operating in June this year. This is another example of our multi-year, multi-million investment plan to cater for our growth in Turkey and underscores our ongoing commitment to the long term future of the country's economic development, helping to improve the financial and commercial health of the Konya region in particular.”

As the new factory is being built, Unilever Turkey will plan for the smooth transfer of production of home and personal care products from the existing factory in Gebze (in the Marmara region) to Konya (in the Central Anatolia region). As a responsible business, Unilever will work with its employees and other stakeholders to ensure they are kept fully informed throughout the transfer process and of the opportunities that will arise in Konya.

Unilever has over 5,000 full-time employees in Turkey. Head office is in Istanbul with eight manufacturing plants in the regions of Anatolia, Black Sea and Marmara.