With a promotion budget topping the cumulated one of the topfour Romanian producers this summer, Unilever has become one of thetop three players on an ice-cream market put at 120-140m euros inless than a year.
Algida's arrival changed the hierarchy on the Romanian ice-creammarket: supported by strong promotion, the newest unit Unileverbrought in Romania at the end of summer ranked third among thebiggest players in terms of value share, according to MEMRB data.Unilever representatives put the company's market share at 13.4%,quoting the same MEMRB survey.
On the other hand, the biggest Romanian producers are stillreporting sales increases and say the toughest battle was foughtduring the summer season between Algida and Nestlé, the onlyforeign players on the market. "Algida is fighting Nestlé on theRomanian market, we do not see foreign players as direct rivals,"states Ioan Istrate, owner of Alpin 57 Lux company producing Alpinice-cream.
The Romanian ice-cream market, put at 120-140m euros, is dominatedby companies owned by Romanian entrepreneurs. They generated over70% of total ice-cream sales in Romania last year.
In his turn, Vasile Armenean, owner of Betty Ice, the biggestRomanian ice-cream producer, maintains Betty Ice gained marketshare during this year's season. Top Gel also reported risingsales. The producer of Amicii ice cream, Kubo Ice Cream, specifiedthe company posted flat sales this year.
Unilever's biggest stake this year was to tap into the market withthe premium products of Algida's portfolio, which directly competewith Nestlé Ice Cream and Betty Blue and other products of Romaniancompanies.
At the same time, Romanian producers could not ignore Unilever'scharge into the medium and low-price segments of the ice-creammarket, accounting for around three quarters of total volume salesdomestically.
To tackle the most developed segment of the market, Unilever thisyear made two important moves: it acquired Napoca brand fromFriesland Foods in the early 2009 and several months later launchedBig Milk ice-cream on the market, a product manufactured in Polandand distributed only in Romania. With its price way below Algida'sportfolio average, Big Milk rivals most products brought onto themarket by Romanian companies.
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