Citizens may face a reduction in the range of ice cream or an increase in prices for it. According to the business, this will happen if in 2021 the labeling of ice cream weighing less than 100 g is introduced. The Unilever company asked the Minister of Agriculture Dmitry Patrushev to suspend it. Otherwise, the company will incur losses: at least 1.2 billion rubles.
The letter says: all stages of ice cream production and shipment are provided with a low-temperature regime, and the technological cycle includes high-speed automated lines. The products themselves are produced in small portions (80% of the assortment has a weight of no more than 100 grams), and its profitability rate is extremely low (90% of the market falls on goods worth no more than 70 rubles). At the same time, the level of counterfeit in the industry is negligible, the circulation notes.
Gennady Yashin, deputy chairman of the board of the Union of Ice Cream Manufacturers, told Izvestia that the industry supports the company’s position. According to the organization’s estimates, the costs of the industry for the purchase of codes for 50 kopecks each will lead to an increase in production costs by 2.5-6%, and the retail price will rise by 25-30%. The union announced this in a letter to Deputy Prime Minister Victoria Abramchenko and Minister of Agriculture Dmitry Patrushev on August 18 (Izvestia has it).
The executive director of the Rusbrand association, Alexei Popovichev, told Izvestia that the additional financial burden on companies due to labeling would push them to reduce the range of ice cream or increase the price for it.
Read more in the exclusive material of Izvestia:
Take the cold: business warned of rising ice cream prices in 2021