Unilever to separate tea business from portfolio

Unilever Ghana has announced plans to split its tea business chain into a separate legal entity before 2022.

“The planned separation will go through the normal approval process and is expected to be concluded by the end of 2021,” the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) informed shareholders of the firm on March 3.

The GSE made the announcement on behalf of the Board of Unilever Ghana Plc.

Unilever Ghana, listed on the local bourse, first hinted on the plans on July 27, 2020, about Unilever’s global announcement on a strategic review and planned separation of its tea business.

Unilever global, the world’s largest tea company with brands such as Lipton, has struggled in recent years due to a change in consumer taste.

Lipton and tea were almost synonymous years back but emerging trends have posed stiff competition to the brand.

“Today consumers are looking for their foods and beverages to do more than just provide taste and sustenance,” said Darren Seifer, a food and beverage industry analyst with NPD Group, quoted by Market Place.

In 2019 Unilever global said it had more than 30 brands including household names such as Lipton, Brooke Bond, Pure Leaf and Tazo.

At the time, the firm said it bought 10% of the global supply of black tea a year from 21 different countries.

These range from India and China to Argentina and Australia, as well as three Unilever-owned estates in Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda.

That equates to 143 billion servings per year.

Black and green tea makes up 90% of Unilever’s tea business.