Friesland sees record ice cream sales

Friesland Foods Romania, the biggest domestic dairy company, saw a 24% growth in ice cream sales in the first seven months of the year, against the same period of 2005. In terms of volume, the company’s Napoca brand witnessed an increase of over 15% in the same period.
“We have so far matched the same quantity sold in the whole of 2005. It has been a very good time for us, when we consolidated our position on the ice cream market, which was also helped by the launch of seven new products,” Gerbrant de Boer, general manager of Friesland Romania told ZF.
De Boer said that, last year, ice cream sales grew by 10%, while this year they have already seen 15% growth. According to previous data, Friesland’s ice cream division last year posted sales worth 7 million euros. Ice cream also contributed to an improvement in the company’s financial results, posted in the first half of this year.
The general manager of Friesland Romania specified that company sales had gone up 21% in euros in the first half of this year.
“The volume of sales went up 7%, mainly driven by the Dots and Milli brands, but we have also seen constant growth of the Napolact brand,” he added.
Provided that the growth trend from the first seven months is sustained, the producer could exceed 110 million euros in business, a substantial increase from the 91 million euros posted last year.
This year, company representatives estimated turnover worth at least 100 million euros, but in each of the past few years, results posted in Romania exceeded estimates made by Friesland’s management.
Friesland invested over 1.8 million euros (a sum calculated at rate card) to promote a new range of Milli branded dessert products.
The new milk based desserts, set to be launched by Friesland, are to be imported from the group’s plants in Slovakia, but company representatives are also considering the possibility to produce them locally.