Japan’s ice cream industry has been hot since last summer, fueled by scorching temperatures and record-high shipments to Taiwan and other markets.

Sales of the frozen treat rose 10% in fiscal 2023 to 608.2 billion yen ($3.85 billion at current rates), a record for the fourth straight year, the Japan Ice Cream Association said Monday.

Japan saw temperatures 1.76 C warmer than average in summer 2023, the highest on record. The Japan Meteorological Agency forecasts another hotter-than-average summer this year, and food producers are getting ready for another busy season.

“When I see ones with new flavors or textures, I want try them,” said a woman in her 20s who was shopping Monday at an Inageya supermarket in Tokyo’s Nerima ward.

Confections maker Morinaga & Co. reports that it nearly ran out of stock last summer. Demand topped levels projected by a forecast system linked to the Japan Weather Association, Morinaga said, and the company has been keeping production at unusually high levels since last autumn.

Last year, Lotte delayed the release of new products by one month to October as a way to cushion the impact of strong demand on production of its mainstay items. It anticipates similarly high demand this year. Ohayo Dairy Products also plans to ramp up inventories.

Blistering temperatures tend to boost demand for ice pops. Lotte saw sales of an ice pop pouch called Coolish grow 20% on the year in July 2023. Akagi Nyugyo logged a 20% jump in sales of its popular GariGarikun ice pop series.

But rich and creamy treats fared less well.

Haagen-Dazs Japan’s sales rose just 2% to 51.7 billion yen in 2023, lagging overall market growth. Morinaga, whose products include Pino chocolate-covered ice cream bites, will bolster its lineup of icy treats, President Yoichi Onuki said. A new one debuted in April.

Frozen treats from Japan are popular in other parts of Asia. Exports grew 16% in value terms to a record 7.8 billion yen for fiscal 2023, Finance Ministry data shows. In volume terms, exports increased 10% to 9,689 tonnes — nearly tripling from about 3,300 tonnes in fiscal 2014. Exports for the calendar year 2023 topped 10,000 tones for the first time.

Taiwan was the biggest market, accounting for nearly a third of the total, with shipments growing 30% on the year in fiscal 2023. Mainland China, the No. 3 market, grew nearly 20%.

Such strength is encouraging companies to make products locally. Meiji Holdings opened a second ice cream factory in China in March.

Higher shipment values also were driven by two rounds of price hikes in 2023, the ice cream association reports.

“Japanese demand may dip going forward as consumers’ purchasing power fails to catch up to inflation and they start pinching pennies,” said Toshihiro Nagahama, chief economist at Dai-ichi Life Research Institute. “The question is how much [manufacturers] can break into overseas markets.”

Imuraya Confectionery, whose signature products include a red bean-based frozen treat, is trying to go local in Malaysia by obtaining a halal certification for a factory.

It’s “not easy to generate a profit when taking into account the costs of exports and local marketing,” said a director at the ice cream trade group.

But Imuraya is optimistic, debuted in June a mochi ice cream product flavored with durian, a locally popular tropical fruit.