Corona fuels organic sales in the USA

Sales of organic food in the USA grew by 12.8 percent to 56.5 billion US dollars (47.5 billion euros) in 2020. Fresh produce in particular increased, reports the Organic Trade Association (OTA). Executive Director Laura Batcha attributed the growth to the pandemic: "Customers turned to high-quality organic food to feed their families."

This was noticeable in fruit and vegetables, for example. Including canned and frozen goods, customers spent 20.4 billion dollars (17 billion euros) on them. This means that the organic share of fruit and vegetable sales is over 15 per cent, the OTA reported. Flour, bread and meat as well as sauces and spices have also increased strongly.

OTA also records sales of certified organic non-food products such as natural cosmetics and textiles. This rose by 8.5 per cent to 5.4 billion dollars (4.5 billion euros). Of this, 2.1 billion dollars was for textiles, the rest for cosmetics and cleaning products.

Batcha was optimistic that the trend towards more organic would continue. People would go back to eating in restaurants, but would continue to eat and cook at home more than before the pandemic. "There remains a renewed awareness of the importance of maintaining our health and that nutritious food plays a big part in that," Batcha said: "For more and more consumers, that means organic."