The delayed onset of winter in the country impacted skincare product volumes for fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies in the quarter that ended in December. However, major FMCG players continued to witness growth in home and personal care portfolios.

With softening of palm oil, Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) witnessed double-digit growth across skin cleansing and single-digit growth in hair care products while ITC Limited witnessed a moderation in demand for products in its Hygiene portfolio.

HUL posted a 10 per cent revenue growth in the beauty and personal care segments while a 32 per cent revenue growth in the homecare segment. The company has Dove, Lifebuoy, Lakme, Lux, Close up, Vaseline, and Sun Silk in its beauty and personal care portfolio, and has Vim, Rin, Comfort, Surf Excel, and Active Wheel in its homecare portfolio.

While ITC Limited saw growth in ‘Fiama’ and ‘Vivel’ beverages, frozen foods, staples, and biscuits drove growth for the company.

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“Input costs remained elevated even as some commodities witnessed sequential moderation in prices; margin expansion was driven through multi-pronged interventions,” it said after posting the results for the quarter that ended in December.

The company has Engage, Vivel, and Fiama under its personal care and Savlon, and Nimeasy under its home care products portfolio.

Dip in beverage demand

FMCG player Tata Consumer also witnessed softness in its beverages portfolio due to delayed winter. “Continued stress in rural and delayed winter, in some of our salient markets, led to market share softness in tea,” the company said.

The company posted a 5 per cent volume decline and a 9 per cent decline in revenue growth for packaged beverages led by pricing corrections and volume decline owing to demand slowdown in key markets, while coffee revenue for the company grew 34 per cent year-to-date.

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