Nestlé to lick Thai market

Nestlé Ice Cream, a branch of food giant Nestlé​, has launched a range of take-home ice cream products for the Thai market. The move is part of the Swiss group's strategy to increase its share in the country's burgeoning frozen foods sector.

The company believes that the move will help it to increase its share of the overall Bt300 million (€6.3m) ice-cream market from 30 per cent at present to 33 to 35 per cent by the end of the year. Nestlé Ice Cream has adopted an aggressive pricing strategy to break into the market in order to penetrate the market.

Such an increase in market share would see the firm mount a serious challenge to its main rival in the region, Wall`s. The Unilever-owned ice cream company currently occupies 40 to 45 per cent of the total market.

Indeed, the Thai ice cream market is becoming increasingly competitive and foreign-based companies have identified significant room for growth. In neighbouring Malaysia, the take-home ice-cream market is more than three times larger than it is in Thailand.

Nestlé has launched seven varieties of ice cream including traditional flavours made with coconuts, peanuts and condensed milk. The products are packaged in see-through plastic containers that are wrapped in styrofoam, which the company claims can keep the contents at minus 20 degrees for more than an hour.

Nestlé Ice Cream is currently the fastest-growing ice-cream company in the region, with sales growing 24 per cent this year to May compared to the same period last year. The firm reported growth of 50 per cent in June 2003 alone, compared to the same month of last year.