In the third instalment of this series, FOCUS talks to Yue Fu, Head of Corporate Affairs for Chinese Mainland and Hong Kong at Haleon.

What new trends are you seeing in the health industry in China?

First, we believe the health industry in China will experience steady growth. According to China’s National Health and Family Planning Commission, the total scale of China’s health service industry will reach RMB 16 trillion by 2030. There has also been a notable shift in people’s mindset as priorities move from reactive disease treatment to preventative health measures, and there is a growing demand for proactive health management products and services.

In addition, China’s ageing population is fuelling a surge in demand for health products and services tailored for older adults. Older people seek not just an extended lifespan but also a higher quality of life. Consequently, there is a growing opportunity for health products and services that support mobility, vitality, memory and cognitive wellbeing.

We believe that these trends will keep driving the growth of China’s consumer health industry. Haleon will also keep leveraging its core strengths in China – deep human understanding, trusted science and digital capabilities – while actively capturing local market trends and consumer needs to provide more high-quality products to meet consumers’ diversified needs under the new trends.

How have Chinese consumers evolved in recent years in terms of their healthcare preferences and buying habits?

Firstly, the consumer’s level of concern for all health problems generally increased. According to a Haleon market study conducted in early 2024, compared with 2021, consumers’ concerns about eye health, immunity, energy, joint health and nutrition supplements have all increased significantly. To deal with these concerns, consumers are taking measures such as adjusting their lifestyles, seeking medical help, changing their diets and exercising more.

In addition, people are spending more on proactive health management. The 2023 National Consumption Expenditure Report indicated that, while demand for therapeutic medications remains dominant and relatively stable, expenditure on non-therapeutic scenarios, such as preventative healthcare, health examination and screening tests, has shown more pronounced growth.

Lastly, consumer demands are constantly evolving and becoming more sophisticated, calling for personalised solutions. To address the diverse needs of different individuals, Haleon launched its first customised nutrition mini-program platform, Key, last year, providing consumers with personalised nutrition solutions, to give just one example.

Key, Haleon’s personalised nutrition platform

Does China’s ageing population provide an opportunity for Haleon?

As mentioned earlier, the ageing population presents great opportunities for growth in health products and services that aim to enable older adults to enjoy a fulfilling life in their later years. Notably, the “new-silver” demographic, aged between 50-60, are more proactive in maintaining their health and more willing to invest in health-related expenses.

Haleon offers products and health solutions that may benefit this ‘silver’ demographic. We have the Silver Centrum multivitamin for the middle-aged to the elderly population. US Silver Centrum has been used in some large-scale, high-quality studies and has been shown to have positive results in slowing down cognitive ageing. In addition, our classic brand, Caltrate, has always focused on providing solutions for bone and joint health, which may also be helpful for older adults to maintain and improve their mobility.

The advantage of China’s consumer goods market is its ability to generate quick innovations, enabling rapid iteration and an agile “test-and-learn” approach

What learnings has Haleon taken from the China market that can be used in the UK and vice versa?

The Chinese market presents lessons for Western countries in the agile and rapid innovation capability of business models such as online-to-offline and interest-based e-commerce platforms. Another advantage of China’s consumer goods market is its ability to generate quick innovations, enabling rapid iteration and an agile “test-and-learn” approach by leveraging its complete industry supply chain and massive domestic consumption market.

As a company with a history in pharmaceuticals, Haleon was born with a heritage of rigorous scientific research. Deep human understanding and trusted science are the core strengths that enable Haleon to outperform its competitors. In the realm of consumer health, our journey begins with a deep understanding of our consumers’ needs. We are truly committed to uncovering profound insights, fulfilling the genuine needs of consumers, and delivering innovations that have been proven to benefit consumers’ health based on trusted science.

How has Haleon managed to thrive in an era of recession around the world? 

Health is a universal and timeless theme. Haleon’s vision to make everyday health more achievable, more inclusive and more sustainable, as well as our commitment to breaking down the social and environmental barriers to better everyday health, is especially crucial in these turbulent times.

With an extensive portfolio spanning disease treatment, prevention and condition enhancement, covering almost the entire human life cycle, we are able to serve tens of millions of people around the world. Combined with the global accessibility of our products, this has allowed us to maintain a certain level of resilience even in challenging environments.

As we move forward, Haleon will continue to leverage our strengths to identify new trends in the market and keep enhancing our innovation capability, allowing us to explore potential business opportunities and adapt to the ever-changing world.

The post Haleon on new trends in the health industry in China appeared first on Focus - China Britain Business Council.

In the second instalment of this new series, FOCUS talks to Jasmine Dang, Unilever’s North Asia Head of Communication and Corporate Affairs.

How and when did Unilever enter the China market and what major successes and growth have you had during this time?

It has been over one hundred years since Unilever’s first entry into the China market. Over the past century, Unilever has grown alongside the Chinese people, providing products and services to Chinese consumers. We have witnessed and contributed to the development of China’s consumer goods industry.

In 1923, Sir Lever, the founder of Unilever, journeyed across the seas to Shanghai to establish the largest soap factory in the Far East, introducing new hygiene products to Chinese consumers.

Fast forward to 1986, Unilever was among the first batch of multinational companies to enter China after the reform and opening up, bringing advanced industrial technologies, an extensive range of products, and a commitment to quality, which significantly drove the growth of China’s consumer goods sector.

Today, China has become one of the top three key growth markets for Unilever globally. Our cumulative investment in the country exceeds $3 billion, with the establishment of our North Asia headquarters and a state-of-the-art global R&D centre in Shanghai. We have eight production bases across the country and operate 40 prestigious brands that meet the daily needs of 80% of urban households in China.

What major projects has Unilever been working on recently, and what is the company excited about coming up in the near future?

As the advantages of China’s supply chain continue to emerge, Unilever has been gradually expanding and upgrading its supply chains in China, building a comprehensive network across the country.

Among these initiatives, as one of the largest investment projects in China in recent years, Unilever has invested RMB 1.6 billion to build a multiple-category production base in Guangzhou. The BW & PC factory officially started mass production at the end of October 2023 as the initial phase of the project.

It will follow international digital manufacturing and globalisation 4.0 standards, promote intelligent digital production, build an end-to-end intelligent supply chain value chain, launch a world-class ‘Lighthouse’ benchmarking project, and is in line with the sustainable goals of ‘dual carbon goals’, to contribute to the transformation and upgrading of the Chinese manufacturing industry.

When fully completed, along with other manufacturing facilities, this Guangzhou base will cover the South China market and will also work as a Unilever China export centre, supplying to the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (a free trade agreement among 15 countries in the Asia-Pacific region) region and the global market.

How has Unilever seen the Chinese market evolve over the past 100 years?

Since entering the Chinese market over 100 years ago, Unilever has been deeply rooted in the mutual development of China’s social and economic life, providing quality services for Chinese consumers.

Entering the 21^st century, the country’s consumer goods industry has undergone more rapid development driven by the economic boom. Unilever modernised our supply chain with technology and optimised our product portfolios to be higher-end through cutting-edge technology backed by R&D capabilities to meet the changing needs of Chinese consumers.

With the rapid growth of e-commerce, Unilever is applying more “digital intelligence” tools and leveraging diverse social platforms to accurately cater to the ever-changing market trends, providing consumers with faster, fresher, and more accurate products and services.

Looking forward, we expect that the Chinese market will enter an era characterised by diversity, personalisation, and highly adaptive consumption patterns. We also find that Chinese consumers have become more rational, seeking products with health attributes and high quality. This shift in consumer attitude has led to exciting developments in the industry, transitioning from steady growth to an era of product segmentation and premiumisation.

Unilever will continue to strengthen its resonance with local consumers. We want to enhance their quality of life and empower them to embrace an active and healthy lifestyle.

What do you hope to see for the next 70 years in China?

Unilever has been operating in China for over 100 years. As we look towards the next century, fuelled by our North Asia headquarters, a state-of-the-art global R&D powerhouse in Shanghai and eight production bases here in China, Unilever will continue to provide high-quality products and services to local consumers.

How has CBBC supported Unilever now or in the past, and in what capacity?

Unilever and CBBC have maintained close cooperation over the past several years. We have navigated the complexities of legal policy together and engaged with government and other stakeholders to facilitate policy advocacy for a better business environment.

The Unilever Leadership Team also actively engaged in CBBC-host events to advocate for UK-China economic and trade engagement, such as the Shanghai celebration dinner for “the 50th Anniversary of the Establishment of China-UK Ambassadorial Diplomatic Relations” and the “Suzhou – Britain economic and trade cooperation roundtable dialogue”.

Forging ahead, we look forward to closer interaction and collaboration to drive more positive changes with a unified voice in the future.

The post After 100 years in China, how does Unilever see the market today? appeared first on Focus - China Britain Business Council.

In the first instalment of this new series, FOCUS talks to leading energy technology company Baker Hughes about its commitment to revolutionising energy in China, the UK and beyond.

How and when did Baker Hughes enter the China market and what major successes and growth have you had during this time?

We started cooperation with China when Deng Xiaoping visited the Baker Hughes drill bit R&D centre in Houston in 1979 during his visit to the United States and took the most advanced drill bit (J44) to China.

In the nearly 45 years since then, we have been committed to the development of China’s energy industry. We have provided more than 150 compression systems for the China West-East Gas Transmission Pipeline project, which are running well so far. We have also participated in more than 20% of China’s shale gas exploration and development. Finally, we have in-depth cooperation with domestic Chinese companies as part of Belt and Road Initiative projects.

How is Baker Hughes contributing to the energy transition, both globally and in China?

As the pace of the global energy transition continues to accelerate, we have solidified our dual approach to implementing efficiency measures today and investing in new energy solutions for the future. We began to increase investment and deployment of related technologies in 2019 to balance the energy trilemma (energy affordability, security, and sustainability) and the challenge of energy efficiency and low-carbon energy utilisation, and ultimately achieve carbon neutrality.

We have expertise and specialist technologies to maximise energy supply whilst also reducing emissions. In addition to our company heritage in conventional oil and gas, we have been involved in carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) for more than a decade, including in some of the world’s largest offshore CCUS projects.

Our Subsea Centre of Excellence in Montrose, Scotland, for example, does not only manufacture equipment for the offshore UK and global oil and gas sector but has also manufactured subsea trees used in large-scale CCUS projects. Similarly, we have decades of experience in hydrogen technology, with more than 2,000 Baker Hughes hydrogen compressors currently in service globally.

From our perspective, driving and developing CCUS and hydrogen in China are one of the biggest focuses in our long-range playbook.

We are committed to continuously providing technical support for China’s energy needs, applying the most advanced low-carbon technology to achieve China’s dual carbon goals, and becoming the most reliable partner for China’s energy security and the most important technology leader in achieving the goal of carbon neutrality.

What is Baker Hughes’s involvement in the UK market?

Baker Hughes has a significant presence across the UK. Our 5,500 employees work at more than 30 sites nationwide, including in Aberdeen, Bristol, Leicester, Montrose and Newcastle. These operations support a network of over 3,000 UK suppliers, with whom we spend over £300 million annually.

We are the only large original equipment manufacturer (OEM) remaining in the UK for subsea energy production systems. Most of the products we manufacture in the UK are exported, including many large-scale infrastructure projects in the energy and oil and gas industries, as well as automation and digitalisation projects in China. During our 45 years of collaborating with three national oil companies and other state-owned enterprises in China, technologies and services from the UK have played a vital role in supporting our projects’ successes.

How have you worked with CBBC during your development in China?

Baker Hughes attaches great importance to the stable development of China-British trade. We became a premium member of CBBC in 2021 and have since relied on CBBC’s advantages in promoting China-British relations to help enhance Baker Hughes’ growth opportunities in the Chinese market. CBBC’s important role in helping shape bilateral relations between the UK and China through its close links to the UK Government and the devolved administrations, the Chinese Government, and the British and Chinese Embassies have been of great value to Baker Hughes and helped us to deliver more successes and business growth in China.

What are your ambitions and plans for the future in China?

Our strategy framework is focused on transforming our core to strengthen our competitiveness today, while investing for growth and positioning for new frontiers in the energy transition. Through this framework, Baker Hughes will build and execute the plan to deliver sustainable value for our shareholders and stakeholders in China and beyond.

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