The tunnels carry the ice out to the parking lot, where trucks line up to receive their share. The ice is then transported to diverse locations. Some batches find their way to local distributors like 'Amm Hussein, who owns a wooden refrigerator he made himself in the Tawfiqiya market. My clients are the fish vendors, who crush the ice over their produce to keep it fresh, and the juice makers, especially those who make sugar cane juice, because the juice has to pass over ice to cool. Other slabs are sent to factories such as those that make concrete and pharmaceuticals.
Summer is definitely the high season.
I think our best business was last year, during that miserable heat wave. It was great. From November to March, the factory works at 50 per cent of its total capacity and sells the ice more cheaply than in the summer. This summer, however, business has been slow. I don't know why, although it is very hot.