Nivea to expand cream capacity at its Sanand plant by 100 mn units

In order to cater to the growing demand in the country, German skincare brand Nivea is looking to fully expand the capacity of its Sanand plant in Gujarat by 2025.

It is currently manufacturing 240 million units a year which is likely to go up by 100 million to 345 million units annually in the next five years. 

For this, Nivea is planning to add two more high speed packing lines and one additional mixer by 2020, in addition to the current 11 filling and packing lines and six mixers.

“India is already one of the top ten markets for us and will definitely move to top three soon,” said Ralph Schimpf, global vice president- quality management, Beiersdorf, the Hamburg (Germany headquartered company which owns the Nivea brand). 

It is currently among the top five skincare brands in India.

The company has so far invested about Rs 350 crore of the Rs 850 crore it had earmarked for the country till 2025.  

In the past three years, the brand has witnessed a CAGR of 25 per cent in the country which is outpacing the overall growth rate of the parent company.

Looking at the growth, the company has rolled out two products tailored for the Indian consumer — Aloe Body Lotion that provides hydration in summers and Milk Delights face wash. These products have been innovated and developed at the company’s R&D centre in Maharashtra.

The brand is present in five categories in India, namely Nivea body care, men, creams, face washes and deo, of which products of the first four categories are manufactured in India. The company is also exporting made in India body care products to the African markets.

“However, at this stage, the factory is concentrating on domestic demand and there are currently no plans to further export products to other markets or regions,” said the company.

According to an AC Nielsen study, the India skin care and personal care market is sized at approximately Rs 13,000 crore and is growing at 11-12 per cent year on year in India with Nivea, HUL’s Vaseline and Pond’s some of the major players.