The International Top 30

Pandemic, war, inflation… are locusts next? The global economy was plagued by a range of maladies and calamities in the past few years. Just as Europe was climbing out of its covid-induced bunker, the Ukraine War sent shock waves across the continent. Half a world away, China continued to grapple with lockdowns that damaged the world’s No. 2 economy and its trading partners. At the start of 2023, nearly two-thirds of chief economists believed a global recession was likely this year.

These and many more issues are chronicled in The International Top 30, our annual look at the biggest companies in the global household and personal products industry with headquarters outside the US. Most companies on our list, from No. 1 Unilever to No. 30 Proya, have been impacted by either the war or the pandemic or both. Every company has had success and failures in the past year and their stories are chronicled on the following pages.

Newcomers to the International Top 30 are few. This year, we’ve added Marcio (No. 28) and Proya (No. 30). Falling out of are list are Oriflame and Yatsen.

But whether in or out of The International Top 30, there is some good news for every company in the fast-moving consumer goods space. Inflation is expected to fall from a high of 9.4% in 2022 to 4.3% by the beginning of next year, according to The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). That’s still higher than pre-pandemic levels but much more manageable. No wonder then that, regardless of where they rank, nearly every company remains optimistic about the year ahead.

There’s even more reasons to be optimistic. The US Federal Reserve has signaled that the US economy may avoid a recession, thanks to its aggressive interest rate hikes, coupled with a resilient US job market. Last month, the US added 209,000 jobs, which some economists have described as “the best possible jobs report.”

Maybe. Or maybe economists are all wet. If the past couple of years has taught us anything, just when the clouds part, another storm gathers on the horizon.