Spanish supermarkets are limiting the number of ice packs sold per customergiven the scarcity of this product due to the greater demand for heat and the lower production due to the price of electricity.
The rationing in the sale of ice -and the disappearance of the product from supermarkets and gas stations- came when the reserves of the product were exhausted, the result of a perfect storm in which added the rise in electricity prices and the heat waves that have affected Spain since June, according to businessmen.
The production of ice, to cover the usual summer demand, begins in the first months of the year, but in 2021, the increase in the price of electricity generated manufacturing and storage costs that caused the closure of factories.
There was no cost stabilization. “in order to be able to sell the ice at the usual market pricethe factories stopped production and it is now, in summer, when it is being noticed” and “The forecast is that there will be no ice in August”explained the owner of the company Tele Hielo, Sergio del Moral, to the news portal “20 Minutes”.
To the low supply was added a demand for ice at the beginning of summer, which Spanish supermarkets place at 30% more than usual.
Businessman Manuel Bustos, owner of HICOSOL, the largest ice producer in Spain, recalled on Spanish public television (RTVE) that the demand for ice began at the beginning of this year, due to “from the almost continuous heat wave since May”.
The increase in demand “is brutal” this year and there is no production capacity to respond to this increase, especially in the hotel sector, said Manuel Bustos.
The businessman mentioned another problem that the ice industry faces, and that happens in other sectors, the lack of labor.
According to the businessman, HICOSOL could be producing 33% more if it managed to hire the number of people it needs for its full operation.
Inflation in Spain was 10.8% in Julythe highest value in 38 years, since September 1984, according to an estimate by the National Institute of Statistics (INE).
“This evolution is mainly due to the rise in the prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages and electricity,” according to the Spanish institute.
Source: Observadora
