Ice cream sales increase despite obesity fears

Sales of ice cream are growing year on year in the Middle East, despite fears that obesity in the region is getting seriously out of control.

NTDE brand manager — gourmet division Hamid Reza Hosseini said: “According to the latest research from Mintel 2010, the retail value sales of ice cream reached US $ 2.4 billion in 2009 in the Middle East and Africa.

“This represents an increase of 8% on the previous year. In 2009, Iran and Saudi Arabia accounted for around 50% of total ice cream retail value sales in the Middle East and Africa region, while ice cream sales in the Middle East are projected to grow by 20% in retail volume over the 2009-2014 period,“ he added.

But although statistics showed that sales of ice cream had risen, other suppliers said that there was a growing trend for low fat products.

Sales and marketing manager for Armobel for Industry and Trade, Ghassan Mougharbel, explained: “One of the new trends in the region is yogurt ice-cream which is 0% fat and you can add whatever flavour you want — this is very popular indeed.”