March 25, 2021
This year we saw an early summer starting from February, where sales figures of ice cream have touched almost 20-30%.
The arrival of summer of 2021 has given momentum to ice cream sales compared to the sales during covid period of 2019.
Many Indian states and major cities witnessed the rise of the temperature over 35°C, which has been nearly about 7 degrees higher than normal days.
The above-normal mercury level has led to an exponential boost in ice cream sales across the country and will continue to be so throughout the summer period.
What needs to be seen are most of the major ice cream brands have witnessed double-digit growth already with sales risen to 20-30 percent and for some brands, the figure may be as high as 60 percent.
Speaking to media R.S. Sodhi from AMUL said the company’s ice cream sales have gone up substantially and is rising constantly.
“Our sales in February this year against last year are up by 40 percent while in March it is three times compared to last year. However, it will be rational to compare it to the March 2019 sale. In that case, also, we have witnessed over 30 percent increase in sales pre-Covid level as summer has arrived more aggressively this year,” he said.
Along with giant dairy Amul, other major brands such as Vadilal, Mother Dairy, and Havmor have enumerated a massive boost in sales of their branded ice cream this year.
Rajesh Gandhi, MD, Vadilal Icecream said, “Compared to 2019 sales level, there is a 20-30 percent increase in February which has further increased to over 60 percent in March as heat has started prematurely this year.”
He cited, “This year is going to be a very good season especially in the peak season which lasts from April-June for the western part of the country whereas for the northern part it goes on till July.”
Sanjay Sharma, Business Head at Mother Dairy said, “We expect the summers of 2021 to be a season of revival for the overall ice cream industry due to an early rise in temperatures and normalcy gradually setting in. The sales are recovering to the pre-Covid levels as of March 2021.”
“We anticipate a growth of 15-20 percent in sales over 2019 for the next three peak months of the ice cream season — April, May, and June as we plan to launch 8-10 new products”, said Sharma.