Our ice cream time machine is not broken! We’ve got the scoop right here

There’s no better way to deal with those July heatwaves than with a scoop (or two, or nine) of your favourite ice cream! It’s also National Ice Cream Month, so let’s scoop out some historical numbers on this classic treat.

Availability

First off, how much ice cream is out there? Our annual food availability series measures the amount of food physically present in Canada for consumption on a per capita basis. In 2023, there were 4.75 litres of ice cream available per Canadian, up from 4.51 litres in 2022.

We started tracking these data in 1960, when availability was 10.47 litres per person. The all-time high of 12.79 litres was reached a decade later—seems like Gen X kids and their families enjoyed it a lot!

The price tag

It was a good summer for ice cream prices in 1970, perhaps because of the plentiful supply. That year, June (-1.5%), July (-2.4%) and August (-2.9%) all saw year-over-year price decreases for ice cream and related products purchased from stores.

However, like most other product categories, it is subject to supply and demand as well as other factors contributing to price change. Prices shot up 25.8% in April 1975, the highest year-over-year increase in any month on record.

In fact, double-digit year-over-year increases were the norm in every month from February 1974 to January 1976. April 1981 (+22.3%) was the highest increase amid another pricey string of months for ice cream lovers, before price movements generally became calmer in the decades to follow.

The industry

Ice cream production is seasonal; it typically dips in the winter months before ramping up again in spring and summer to meet demand.

In March 2024, Canadian producers churned out 15,293 kilolitres (kL) (or about 122 million scoops) of hard ice cream. July (17,310 kL) topped monthly production in 2023, and it was the highest monthly number on record since July 2020 (18,086 kL). Since we started tracking these data in 1977, the all-time high was recorded in June 1994 (39,104 kL).

Imports and exports

Ice cream also means big cross-border business. Since we started tracking these data in 1988, the largest export haul on record was in 2006, when 29.3 million kilograms (kg) (more than 380 million scoops*) of ice cream and other edible ice (whether or not containing cocoa) were exported, mostly to the United States. That number dropped to 9.8 million kg (127.8 million scoops) by 2023.

Canada imported 10.6 million kg of ice cream and other edible ice (whether or not containing cocoa) in 2023, short of the all-time high of 11.9 million kg in 2022.

Wherever your ice cream comes from—and however many scoops you ask for, we’re not collecting that data—enjoy!