Local ice cream producers have estimated that growth will be half of last year's level. The producers believe the increase in the price of basic food products will have a negative impact on local ice cream sales.

"Our sales are dependent on the weather, as well as the economic situation, and it is obvious that food prices have gone up lately. Ice cream is no longer a basic product, unlike bread, so it all depends on how each person portions their food budget," says Ioan Istrate, owner of the company that produces Alpin ice cream. He predicts a 5-8% increase in the volume of sales for 2008 compared with 2007, and a 10-15% increase in terms of value.

In turn, representatives of Betty Ice, the second-largest producer on the market, expect an around 25% increase in terms of volume during the same period.

Forecasts from companies indicate a more moderate turnover increase this year against 2007. Last year, some of the leading local producers expected growth rates as high as 40% against 2006.

Alpin posted a 26% sales increase in 2007 against 2006, and this year Istrate expects the increase to be half last year's level (12%).

Razvan Kaminsky, key-account manager of Betty Ice, says the weather has not helped local ice cream producers so far, either.

"This year, Bucharest has been the only place with extremely favourable weather for us. In areas such as Transylvania and Moldova, temperatures have been low so far," says Kaminsky.

Leading producers put ice cream retail sales at around 100 million euros for 2007. In terms of volume, Kubo Ice Cream (producer of Amicii) evaluated the ice cream market at 30,000 tonnes, i.e. 60 million litres last year.

Yoghurt, ice cream and frozen vegetables were the foods with the highest sales growth in retail last year, according to a study by market research company MEMRB Retail Tracking Serv