We Eat Ice-Cream Valuing 35 Million Euros

The Romanians are somewhere at the bottom of the European ice-cream eaters hierarchy. Anyway, the Romanian ice-cream market is estimated at 35 million euros this year, with a high increase potential.

Once the summer has come the ice-cream sales have increased. Everyone, richer or poorer, buys a stick or cone ice-cream, to cool themselves. The Romanians’ pleasure of tasting the cooling desert brings approximately 35 million euros to the ice-cream producers and importers. The annual ice-cream production in the Romanian market is estimated at about 10,000-15,000 tons, according to the producing teams.

SMALL CONSUMPTION. Even if today we find ice-cream at every street corner, Romania is situated at the bottom of the European ice-cream eaters hierarchy. "In Romania, 85% of the people eat ice-cream, and 80% of these eat ice-cream produced by companies famous in this market. Anyway, the consumption level is still low, in comparison with the average in Europe and the USA", say the Delta Romania representatives. According to the statistics, one Romanian eats 0.5 kg of ice-cream per year, while one Polish eats 4 kg, one Swedish 15 kg and one Italian 17 kg. The greatest ice-cream consumers are the Americans, in the USA the consumption reaching 27 kg per person per year.

Actually, the producers are optimistic and believe Romania is a country with a great potential. "We estimate the ice-cream market in Romania to value 35 million euros, having a possibility to double, to triple or to multiply its value more times in the next 5-10 years", stated for us Florin Rosescu, general director of Kubo Ice Cream Company, the producer of the Amicii ice-cream. "Generally, the market is expected to increase, the preferences to vary (as long as the consumers become more sophisticated in their options), and the consumers’ choices to be less and less determined by the price, taking into account the improvement of their economical situation", stated for us, Dimitris Giannakopoulos, general director of Delta Romania.

THE MARKET. The big battle on the ice-cream market is locked between more companies, some new in this game, which want to catch the Romanians with different selections of the iced desert. Delta Romania has approximately 40% of the market’s value, followed by other producers like Kubo in Piatra Neamt, with 20%, Napolact, Alpin, Nestle, Ati Cream or Betty Ice.

PREFERENCES AND TENDENCIES. The Romanians tend to buy more and more ice-cream, targeting more the brand products. "The Romanian consumer prefers now to buy ice-cream from super-markets as well, targets more and more family portions, and the products of impulse type are still bought from bandstands and small shops. The tastes have become finer, the "special" products at normal prices are wanted, the people want diverse products which attract with the help of the packing and of the content", believes the general director of Kubo.

Regarding the tastes, Romanians prefer the most the chocolate ice-cream flavor (28.4%), according to a research of Daedus Consulting. In order of the preferences succeeds the vanilla flavor, wanted by 26.3% of the consumers, cocoa (15.1%), fruits (12.5%), coffee, cappuccino or ness (4.4%) and caramel (2.6%).

The producers have observed that in the hot season the stick ice-cream, the cone and the cup one are best sold, while in the winter the buyers orient themselves towards the ice-cream cakes and rolls.

HISTORY

The tasty and so wanted ice-cream has a very ancient history. The first iced desert has been created in the Roman Empire, during the reign of Nero, the emperor, according to the www.magicland.ro website. This was a combination between snow (brought by the slaves from the mountains) and nectar, fruit pulp and honey. The ice-cream appearance is also related to Marco Polo, which is supposed to have brought in Europe ice-cream keeping cases, saying that they were used in China for thousands of years. He learned from the Chinese the ice and frozen milk making method. After time, the ice keeping cases evolved and the ice-cream became a delicacy at the French and English courts. The first commercial ice-cream making machine has been invented in 1855 in Australia, and the mechanized producing has started in 1880. In 1899, August Gaulin invented the homogenizer and the ice cream has become more liquid. In 1919, in America, the first ice-cream wrapped in chocolate appeared and in 1920 the first stick ice-cream.