South Korea's ice market has risen dramatically in recent years, industry sources said Friday, amid ever-rising temperatures during the summer months.
The market size will likely surge to 40 billion won ($35 million) this year, up from 30 billion won last year, the sources said.
GS25, the second-largest convenience store chain in the country, said sales of ice jumped 30 percent in recent weeks from a year earlier. Ice sales were four times higher than those for bottled water in June, a GS25 official said. A year earlier ice sales were three times higher than bottled water.
The increase in the number of single-person households also contributed to the rising popularity of ice as singles tend to purchase ice cubes for beverages and ice flakes.
Pulmuone Foods Co., a major foodmaker here, said it doubled the production facility for ice cubes this year by investing 2.4 billion won, noting its factory in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province, currently makes about 50 tons of ice cubes every day.
Pulmuone expects to sell 20 billion won worth of ice this year, up from last year's 15 billion won. (Yonhap)
