Fierce Competition in China's Ice Cream MarketChinese and foreign ice cream producers are expected to face stiffer competition in the large Chinese market with the coming of the summer heat, "China Daily" said Thursday.Statistics from the China Food and Drink Industries Association show that the annual growth rate of the ice cream industry is 105 percent since 1987. More than 1,000 ice cream companies, including world famous ones such as the Wall's of Britain and Nestle of Switzerland, have introduced new products to China, with total annual production exceeding 1 million liters last year. Although overall sales volume of ice cream in China dropped by 8 percent last year, Wall's, affiliated with Unilever, has doubled its sales volume and took around 20 percent of the market. Price-cutting has been the strategy of many ice cream manufactures to survive the fierce competition. Wall's slashed its prices 25-30 percent last year. However, this year, "there will be no price cut, for lowering price at the expense of quality will only make us lose consumers, said Ter-Kulve, the newly appointed general manager of Wall's ( China) Co. Ltd. A survey conducted by the Beijing Consumer Association on ice cream markets showed consumers considered taste and quality first when buying ice cream. |
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