Chairman of Unilever in Vietnam Jacques Ferriere said the company's products, including soaps, shampoos and toothpaste, reached every corner of this largely rural nation.

"It may sound odd but we claim total retail coverage, including in all rural areas across the country," Ferriere said in a telephone interview from southern Ho Chi Minh City.

Unilever first scouted Vietnam in 1988 for opportunities and since 1995 has invested $100 million in three joint ventures and one wholly owned firm that makes the popular Wall's ice cream.

Ferriere said annual sales growth for the entire operation in the last three years had been around 100 per cent, culminating in expected sales this year of $100 million.

He declined to give profit figures or sales forecasts for the three jointventures, which are all in the black, but said it was unlikely they would keep matching current sales growth. The Wall's ice cream unit began operations last September and Ferriere expected it be in profit within two years.

"I don'T believe we can keep these growth rates forever but we are proud of our achievements in the first three years which is in great contrast to our competitors," Ferriere said.

One top competitor in communist-ruled Vietnam, US Group Procter & Gamble has had an unhappy time. A highly-public dispute between P&G and its Vietnam partner erupted in mid-1997 with key discord over responsibility for $30 million in losses incurred by the venture.

Last March P&G reached an agreement in principle to increase its stake in the venture to 93 percent from 70 percent. P&G had originally asked its local partner, Phuong Dong, to inject further capital to cover the losses or sell out.

Ferriere declined to give specific fresh investment plans for Unilever, but did say the company was consideringexpanding the Wall's ice cream business in the North to serve Hanoi.

In addition, Unilever was mulling expansion into other food categories and tea, he said.

Ferriere, who said Unilever had a majority market share for its products in Vietnam, added that the firm was also building a product base in personal care items such as cosmetics.

"This strategy reflects our hope that the middle class will keep growing," Ferriere said.

Unilever even had trouble keeping up with demand, he said. "In some areas we are having trouble satisfying the demands of the market. In key lines, like laundry detergent, we are definitely short of capacity," he said.

Nevertheless, Ferriere said Vietnam, with annual per capita income just above $300, was not a place for the faint-hearted but that the payoff was 78 million potential consumers.

"This is certainly not an easy place. It is very tough, it takes lot of hard work to succeed but the rewards are there."

Ferriere partly attributed Unilever's success in Vietnam toadapting products to suit the market.

The top selling shampoo in Vietnam is Sunsilk Boket, which used Unilever's well-known product mixed with bo ket seeds, an ingredient used inVietnamese shampoos. All told, local raw materials account for 60 percent of the firm's products.

"It's critical...to have mixed brands which are suited to the market. Localisation is the answer," Ferriere said.