THE HAGUE: British-Dutch consumer giant Unilever said Thursday that worried consumers snapped up cleaning products due to the coronavirus pandemic but that overall sales slid. During the first half of the year, sales came in at 25.7 billion euros ($29.8 billion), a drop of 1.6 percent from the same period last year, with currency fluctuations also negatively affecting the results.
In the second quarter, when lockdowns were in place in much of Europe and North America, overall sales slid by 2.9 percent to 13.3 billion euros. "We saw increased consumer demand for household cleaning products, such as Cif surface cleaners, and our home and hygiene brands delivered high-teens underlying sales growth," the company said in a statement.
Nevertheless sales of home care products overall fell by 3.7 percent during the quarter to 2.6 billion euros. And with many people no longer going into the office or out to socialise, sales of personal grooming products sagged by 3.6 percent to 5.3 billion euros.