With temperature staying cooler during the month of March, which marks the beginning of summer, the temptation for ice cream consumption seems to have slowed down. Leading ice cream players have witnessed a decline in ice cream sales in March against what was seen in the same month last year.
"There is still a cold wave prevailing in evening and night hours in the state. This has impacted ice cream sales to some extent. We expected 30-35 per cent growth in ice cream sales for March over last year, but we could achieve about 20-22 per cent growth due to weak start of summer," said Rajesh Gandhi, managing director, Vadilal Industries Ltd.
"The month of March is about to end soon, but the temperature has remained low, giving a feeling of a delay in summer. However, we are confident of sales picking up from April onwards, when the temperature will rise further," added Gandhi.
The four-month period of summer - beginning from March - makes about 40-45 per cent or about Rs 140 crore sales of the total annual sales of ice creams worth around Rs 400-500 crore in Gujarat alone.
According to R S Sodhi, managing director, Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd (GCMMF) - which owns Amul brand, a weak start of summer had affected ice cream sales. "We were expecting 30 per cent sales growth for March this year as compared to the corresponding month last year. But we have achieved only 10 per cent growth due to weak beginning of summer. But surely sales will pick up as the season progresses, so there is not much worry," said Sodhi.
However, Pradeep Chona, director at Ahmedabad-based Havmor Ice Creams was confident of achieving targeted sales during March.
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"Though there are colder mornings and nights during March, we could successfully achieve our targeted sales. We have been growing at around 22-25 per cent and we are hopeful for sales to rise with start of school vacations and increase in temperature," said Chona. The officials at Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) maintained that the temperature during the month of March has remained largely normal to above normal.
"The temperature has fallen during night hours but during day time, we have observed a normal to above normal temperature during March," a senior official at IMD - Ahmedabad informed.
According to IMD, the minimum temperature recorded at Ahmedabad during nights, was around 16 to 17 degree Celsius, which was lower than the normal average of 20 to 21 degree Celsius.
The days remain warmer with temperature in the range of 38-39 degree Celsius. Meanwhile, IMD sources informed that mercury levels may start rising from April first week. Normally, during the month of April, temperature rises to about 45-46 degree Celsius.
"We see no worry with regard to the temperature during summer. We can expect a sunny summer this season," informed the IMD officer.