Unilever Thai Trading Co Ltd said yesterday that it would invest Bt1 billion in its ice cream business to reinforce its position in Thailand.

Chairman Loic Tardy said more than Bt100 million would be spent expanding the number of Wall's ice cream mobile stalls from 50,000 to 60,000 by the end of the year. It will also expand production at its ice cream factory.

This year's investment budget is 66 per cent higher than last year's Bt600 million.

The company aims to increase Wall's share of the ice cream market has set an aggressive target to increase its current market share of Wall's to 46 per cent by the end of the year from the current 44 per cent.

Wall's is the leader of Thailand's ice cream market which logged total sales of Bt7 billion last year. Nestle ice cream was second with a 32-per-cent market share at the end of last year.  This year the market is expected to grow to B8 billion.

Tardy said the ice cream market in Thailand had great potential for growth among all age groups.

According to the company's research, Thais eat an average of 0.6 litres of ice cream each year. However, in Bangkok the figure is closer to 6 litres per year.

Thailand's market however still lags behind the US, where people consume 30 litres a year on average.

As a result, the Thai market is expected to enjoy growth of around 15 per cent this year from last year.

Tardy is even more optimistic.

"With our aggressive marketing activities and the rollout of new innovations and flavours, we expect higher growth than the market at over 30 per cent this year," he said.

Tardy added that Wall's ice cream has three main categories of ice cream: Paddle Pops, mainly aimed at children, Cornettos for teenagers, and Selection - take-home tubs of ice cream targeted at families.

Somluck Srimalee

The Nation