Ice cream industry melting on a rumour

Hardly anyone turns up at the National Parliament House these days to get some fresh in the evenings.

And for Md Moslem Uddin, an ice cream seller who parks his cart in front of the yards of the heritage building every day, this development, brought on by the outbreak of coronavirus in Bangladesh in March, has been particularly brutal.

On an average, he sells ice creams worth Tk 3,000 to 3,500 daily and his monthly commission ranges from Tk 12,000 to Tk 15,000.

"My van's paddle has stopped and so has my income," said Uddin, a father of two daughters.

And the blow came just when ice cream sales were about to hit peak demand with the rise in mercury in the country.

The peak season for the Tk 1,500 crore ice cream industry ranges from March to June, which are basically the scorching summer months.

The countrywide shutdown since March 26 has pounded almost all sectors of the economy more or less, but the ice cream, it appears, has been a victim of a cruel joke on top.

A rumour was spread on social media quoting the United Nations Children's Fund that ice cream consumption would lead to catching coronavirus.

Though the United Nations agency denied it, the damage was already done, with people avoiding ice cream like plague.

"Our sales just abruptly nosedived when the propaganda was spread through social media," said GM Kamrul Hassan, chief executive officer of Igloo Ice Cream, which has a 42 per cent share of the market.

Igloo, the market leader with 42 per cent shares, lost its probable sales of about Tk 150 crore in the last few days, which is the peak season for ice cream, he said.

Then the second blow came when the government announced the shutdown because about 60 per cent of the ice cream sales take place in the streets, he said.

"These sells just stopped," he said, adding that the distribution channel is also disrupted by law and enforcement departments.

Even when the shutdown is lifted, most likely after April 25, people may not jump back to gorging ice cream.

"The psychological damage has already been. The ice cream industry will struggle a lot," Hassan added.

Tanvir Haider Chaudhury, chief executive officer of Kazi Food Industries, whose two brands Za'n Zee and Bellissimo have cornered 12 per cent of the market, echoed the same.

"We missed the top-selling day of the year, which is Pahela Baishakh," he said, adding that his company's sales now are in the fractions.

Ice cream producers sell about 75 per cent of their products in just four months of the year, said Ahmed Rajeeb Samdani, chairman of Golden Harvest Group, which has a 15 per cent share of the ice cream market with its two brands Kwality and Bloop.

But this year there was hardly any sales.

"The rumour spread among schools and guardians -- and our sales were pounded."

The unsold ice cream is now being housed at the storage facility, which is reaching full capacity.

"We are incurring electricity bills. And we don't know when the stock will be sold," he said, adding that the company lost sales of about Tk 30 crore since March 26.

Since people will not start to consuming ice cream very soon due to the fear that came through the rumours, the raw materials will now have to be discarded as those have an expiry date.

"The ice cream industry is the highest affected among all sectors and the growing market is simply going to be destroyed by this pandemic," Samdani added.

According to research by LankaBangla Investments, the ice cream industry is growing at 15 per cent rate riding on rural consumers and surge in per capita income across the country.

It's the same scenario over the upscale ice cream parlours.

Kawser Zaman, operation manager of Gelatissimo, an Australian ice cream chain with five outlets in Dhaka, said their sales have hit rock-bottom.

"There are simply no people out and about. And people are not in the mood for ice cream now," he added.

Abdul Mannan, manager of Movenpick, a Swiss ice cream chain, said the rumour just killed their sales.

"No country in Europe, where coronavirus is wreaking havoc, has seen such a crash in ice cream sales. But we were felled by a rumour," he added.

Rakibul Haque, assistant manager of Marble Slab Creamery, an American chain, said their in-store sales are non-existent but they are still getting some orders through Foodpanda and Uber Eats.

"But it is not significant," he added.