Sales of ice cubes have rocketed during the UK summer, not just because of soaring temperatures, but due to the popularity of the ALS Ice Bucket challenge which continues to sweep the nation.

According to global market intelligence firm IRI, sales were up 69 per cent last week compared to the same seven-day period in 2013.

“We started to see ice cube sales rise in the last week of August despite the fact that the weather has been much cooler, so it was clear that something else was affecting the figures,” said Tim Eales, director of strategic insight at IRI.

“While other frozen products like desserts and ice cream have fallen in the last month, ice cube sales have gone up and up, with people spending over £1 million per week on them on average over the past four weeks and £1.6 million in the final week of August.”

The UK ice cube industry is worth around £35 million annually, but with millions taking to social media to publicise the stunt – which involves pouring a bucket of cold water over their head – sales are likely to outstrip previous years.

The ALS challenge was created to spread awareness of Motor Neurone Disease, but other charities have also benefitted as the craze spread.

There have been around 2.5 million ‘ice bucket’ videos uploaded to Facebook since it began.