As heatwaves make outdoor thermometers set new records globally, the ice cream industry is making big bucks.
Sales of popular flavored frozen desserts reached $62 billion globally in 2020 alone.
Joining the global trend, Ukraine exported 6,750 tons of ice cream in 2020, nearly half more than 2016.
For the first four months of 2021, the country’s ice cream export increased by 20% and reached around 1,080 tons, the State Service on Food Safety reported on July 30.
Almost half of the ice cream made in Ukraine ended up in the European Union.
According to Vladyslava Magaletska, head of the State Service on Food Safety, this growing popularity indicates “the high quality of Ukrainian products, respected outside the country.”
Overall, Ukraine exports its frozen desserts to more than 50 countries, selling the most in Moldova, China, Israel, Bulgaria, Lithuania and Czech Republic.
Producers from Zhytomyr, Kharkiv, and Dnipropetrovsk oblasts made 61,600 tons of ice cream in the first five months of the year, slightly more than the same period last year.
Ukraine produces 150,000 tons of ice cream per year, offering nearly 900 different flavors to consumers home and abroad.
Nevertheless, Ukrainian supermarkets’ freezers overflow with foreign brands.
The country imports up to 1,000 tons per year from France, Italy, Romania, Poland and Russia, but recent news show some unchecked items from abroad can prove dangerous.
The State Service of Food Safety recently found a carcinogenic substance in some ice cream made in France, exported from Romania and sold in Kharkiv, Ukrainian media reported on July 24.
Ukrainians eat around 3 liters of ice cream per person and per year, still far from the top ice cream-eating nations.
For instance, in New Zealand, one person eats 28.4 liters of ice cream annually.
The U.S. (20.8 liters per person), Australia (18.0 liters per capita), and Finland (14.2 liters) top the list of ice cream-eating nations.
Such consumption could bring over $96 billion to the ice cream industry in the next five years, according to recent research conducted by U.S.-based market research company EMR.
