Ice cream consumption grew by 4% in the last year, leaving a turnover of more than 554 million euros for the sector. Among the conditions that have stimulated this growth, climatic factors —increase in temperature in the seasonal months— and the pandemic, which led to unusual consumption in homes.
The data, corresponding to the Food Consumption Panel of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, indicate that Spaniards consumed 149 million liters of ice cream between June 2020 and May 2021, 4% more than in the same period of a year before, a growth very determined by climatic factors. In fact, half of the annual consumption takes place in the months of June, July and August, and the greatest demand is located in the warmest autonomous communities, with the Balearic and Canary Islands leading the way.
Ice cream consumption in figures
Thus, the latest edition of the MAPA Consumption Panel confirms a growth trend that has lasted for several years. The main data collected by the study are:
- The facturation of the sector grew in the reference period slightly above the volume consumed, 4.8%, for a total of 554.6 million euros. The average price of a liter of ice cream, 3.72 euros, experienced an increase of 0.8%.
- Each Spaniard consumed an average of 3.23 liters of ice cream, in which he spent 12 euros, 4.9% more than the previous year.
- The consumption of ice cream is characterized by a strong seasonality, so that more than half of the purchases (53.7%) are concentrated in the months of June (15.4%), July (20.1%) and August (18.2%).
- The pandemic has had a clear impact in ice cream sales, which are not unrelated to increase in food consumption at home produced in 2020. Thus, the months in which there were containment measures recorded strong increases in demand, of 25.3% in April, and 33% in May, although the highest occurred in November, 36 , 3%, when new restrictions on movements were decreed due to the second wave of the virus.
- On the contrary, this same reason caused in 2020 a significant decrease in the consumption of ice cream in establishments f40.8% outside the home. The frequency of per capita consumption of ice cream outside the home has gone from 7 times in 2019 to 5.1 times in 2020, while the volume consumed has decreased from 1.1 to 0.6 liters.
- Refering to territorial distribution, the autonomous communities of the south, and especially the islands, register a increased consumption of ice cream. The Balearic Islands is by far the community with the highest demand, 5 liters per inhabitant per year, almost two liters above the national average. It is followed by the Canary Islands, with 3.9 liters of per capita consumption. The national average is also exceeded in the Valencian Community (3.7 liters of ice cream per person and year), Murcia, Andalusia and Extremadura (3.4 liters in all three cases) and Castilla-La Mancha (3.3 liters ). On the contrary, Castilla y León is the community where less ice creams are taken (2.3 liters per person), along with Cantabria (2.4) and the Basque Country (2.5).
- In global terms, Andalusia is where the most volume of ice cream is consumed, 19.6% of the national total, clearly above its population weight in the whole of Spain (17.5%). In the other two most populated communities, the opposite occurs, the consumption of ice cream is lower than its population weight. Thus, in Catalonia, which accounts for 16.2% of the national population, 15.3% of ice cream consumption is produced, while in Madrid these data are 14.1% and 12.9%, respectively.
Summary
Qualification
The climate and confinement stimulate the consumption of ice cream
Description
Ice cream consumption grew by 4% in the last year, leaving a turnover of more than 554 million euros for the sector. Among the causes, the increase in temperature in the seasonal months, and the pandemic, which led to unusual consumption in homes.
Author
Gastronomy Journal