Ice cream makers eye tasty prospects

Nestle's turnaround has been led by its Oreo ice cream series, which posted triple-digit growth this year after entering the Chinese market in 2024. The company's 8 Cubes product retained its position as China's top brick-style ice cream, and its food service-focused B2B portfolio — used in freshly made beverages, cafes and bakeries — grew at a high double-digit pace.

The food and beverage company is expanding its product pipeline in 2026 with new 8 Cubes flavors, dual-wafer Crispy Shark bars, Q-texture jelly ice products, and additions to the Oreo lineup including mini cookie-coated bars and a sandwich ice cream format.

The company said these innovations aim to match the emotional preferences of younger consumers, who value novel textures, trendy color palettes and shareable formats that perform well on social media.

The Magnum Ice Cream Company, the world's largest ice cream maker, recently filed a statement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, taking a key step toward listing its shares on the New York Stock Exchange. According to the public filing, China remains a strategic pillar for TMICC.

The company's primary brands, Cornetto and Magnum, ranked as the fourth and fifth-largest ice cream brands in the country by retail sales in 2024.

TMICC generated 317 million euros ($369.2 million) in China revenue in fiscal year 2024 and 270 million euros in the first half of 2025, driven mainly by impulse consumption and a distribution network that reaches a broad spectrum of channels.

This means the first half revenue has already reached 85 percent of last year's total revenue. The growth came from increased investment in distribution, freezer deployment and innovation and early marketing of the new products, according to the company.

Industry data point to a market in transition.

According to Euromonitor, China's ice cream sector is expected to grow 1.3 percent in 2025 — its first expansion after two years of contraction — yet per capita consumption remains at just 1.5 liters, far below levels in the United States, Japan and South Korea, leaving significant room for long-term growth.

Elisa Lin, senior consultant at Euromonitor International, said the ice cream market in China has recovered this year after 2024's deep descent. This turnaround is primarily driven by two factors.

First, the start of autumn in 2025 was later than usual in many parts of the country, with more hot days and less frequent extreme weather events compared to previous years, which boosted impulse purchases of ice cream, said Lin.

Second, within the industry, inventory levels dropped to relatively low levels at the beginning of the ice cream season. Significant discount-driven stock clearance was markedly less common than in 2024, leading to prices of new products becoming more stable.

At the same time, consumption logic is shifting. Flavor hybrids are proliferating, including ice cream blended with cookies, mint mixed with chocolate and cola paired with biscuit crumbs.