When a construction company tried to procure 100 blocks of ice every two hours for a period of six days towards temperature controlled concreting for a high-rise building recently, they realised the task was not an easy one. Reason: most of the ice factories that once flourished in the city, have shut shops shutters following the shifting of many chemical factories out of Pune.

If five years ago there were about 100 manufacturers of block-ice or flake ice that between them had a turnover of over Rs 100 crore, now there are hardly 40 factories that do an aggregate business of about Rs 60 crore annually. Among them only a handful of big players supply block-ice to construction companies, chemical factories or dye manufacturers, the major clients for ice.

“Most of the factories have closed or have shifted out of Pune since they were relying heavily on chemical factories. Now, ice concreting or temperature controlled concreting is picking up in Pune like in Mumbai and this gives hope to the existing ice factories. The business is seasonal and picks up pace in summer,” said Vivek Naiddu, owner of Unite Traders, who managed to supply ice to RmC readymix India for a period of six days.

Naiddu who also owns an ice factory in Bhosari said for supplying ice non-stop to RmC readymix he was forced to procure ice from nine companies in the region. “The task was challenging but we were able to do it. There are only about 12 companies now that supply block-ice in Pune,” said Naidu, whose clients include Birla Readymix, Ashoka Group, Century Enka and Venky’s.

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