FOCUS: Frozen chocolate and other cold treats in demand

TOKYO, Aug. 31 Kyodo

Demand for chocolate, cheese and other regimen items that can melt in the fiery weather usually slows in the summer on the contrary consumers are now taking a next to the first look at these items when they approach frozen.

At convenience stores in the Kanto and Koshinetsu regions in late July a frozen wild the Kit Kat Ice Stick made through Kobe-based Nestle Confectionery KK made its first attempt in ice cream cases. Its cream has been improved thus it does not become stiff when frozen

Demand for chocolate plummet in the summertime. And to corrective this situation, Nestle began freezing the Kit Kat, its main returns in 1995.

''The demand for it shrinks les in les in the summer than for outcomes made by other companies,'' said Masafumi Ishibashi, a director at the company.

family also take by less cheese in the summer Snow Brand Milk outcomes Co. began selling a frozen bite-size cheese cakes in March and sales have been favorable.

Osaka-based House meats Corp. is selling a frozen milky forsaken Smoothie Fruiche until late August as demand for Fruiche becomes moderates in the summer because of the popularity of ice cream.

Based upon consumer preferences, the development division of Seven-Eleven Japan Co has commercialized three kinds of frozen-type yielding drinks, including ''Korasete Oishii Calpis'' (tasty frozen Calpis), and has been selling them since July with the catchphrase: ''You can drink its gelid for a long time if it's frozen''

In the summer many tribe drink soft drinks by freezing them by the agency of themselves, but conventional fondling bottles become deformed or damaged when frozen Therefore, the company has unfolded a special PET bottle and the drinks are selling well at stores near outdoor facilities like baseball stadiums and parks.

Sakashita Seika, a Japanese-style confectionery store in Munakata, Fukuoka Prefecture began selling frozen rice cakes substanceed with sweetened bean paste four years ago.

As the cakes do not be deprived of their taste even after being defrost orders from across the political division via the Internet are pouring in.

Naomi Yoshikawa, a nutritionist, said of frozen meat items, ''When cold, they are not with equal reason sweet, but as they have calories, you should be careful not to eat much''

COPYRIGHT 2006 Kyodo freshs International, Inc.

COPYRIGHT 2006 Gale Group