Emerging markets in 'fragile' state: Unilever chief "I am always surprised that I am the one who sort of has to announce there's a slowdown in emerging markets": Paul Polman, chief executive of Unilever. Unilever (UNA) chief executive officer Paul Polman said the economic slowdown in emerging markets is here to stay as many countries need to enact structural reforms to adjust to new conditions after the boom of recent years. Unilever, the world's second-largest consumer-goods maker, said September 30 that slowing growth in emerging markets would weigh on second-half sales. The company gets more than half its revenue from such economies in countries such as India and China. So-called underlying sales rose 3.2 per cent in the third quarter, the weakest increase in four years and a slowdown from the first-half's 5 per cent pace, the Anglo-Dutch maker of Lipton tea reported October 24. "I am always surprised that I am the one who sort of has to announce there's a slowdown in emerging markets," Polman said, speaking November 29 at a reception where he was awarded the 2013 World Wildlife Fund Duke of Edinburgh Conservation Medal for Unilever's efforts to reduce environmental damage. Shares Fall The Amsterdam-traded shares fell 1 per cent to 28.71 euros. Weak currencies in India, Brazil and Indonesia have weighed on sales growth, the company has said. "Emerging markets are clearly decelerating, but will always grow faster than the developed world," said Jon Cox, an analyst at Kepler Cheuvreux in Zurich. Unilever is the emerging market play -- given 60 per cent of sales are there, what Polman says on them has a lot of weight. Investors have pumped money into emerging markets since 2008, spurred by the liquidity generated by central banks, Polman said. US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke's statement on June 19 that the Fed may start tapering stimulus efforts this year put pressure on emerging markets, he said. "People were thinking interest rates in the US would go up again and then money came back to the US," the Dutch executive said. You saw a lot of these emerging market currencies go down 10 to 15 per cent. Fortunately these countries are stronger, so you don't have another Asian crisis. Polman is the first CEO of a major multinational company to receive the Duke of Edinburgh conservation award since it began in 1970. He spoke in Geneva. "It's a great honour," he said of the prize. WWF clearly understood you have to take some risk by working with people, coalitions together to move things forward. Bloomberg