European organic market continued to grow in 2012

In 2012 the European organic market grew by approximately six percent to a value of almost €23,000m. Consumers in the European Union spent close to €21,000m on organic foods. While sales in some countries were rather stagnating in the course of 2012, other countries displayed strong growth. The latter include Finland (+24%), Norway (+17.2%) and the Netherlands (+14.2%). In the United Kingdom however, retail sales declined the years before but have shown renewed growth in 2013. These figures were collected by the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL) and the Agricultural Market Information company AMI and further partners of the OrganicDataNetwork project. The area under organic management in Europe increased to more than 11 million hectares in 2012, comprising 2.3% of the European agricultural area. In the European Union approximately ten million hectares, or 5.6% of the total agricultural area, were managed organically. Germany continued to be the largest market for organic products in Europe with a turnover of €7,040m in 2012. The turnover in France increased markedly to €4,040m. Switzerland had the highest annual per capita spending on organic products worldwide (€189). Germany occupied the middle ground with a per capita spending of €86.

The OrganicDataNetwork’s data analysis has shown that fruit and vegetables are not only pioneering products in the organic market in many European countries but also continued to hold particularly high market shares in 2011 and 2012, accounting for between a third and a fifth of sales in the national organic markets. Sales of organic fruit and vegetables are particularly significant in Italy, Ireland, Norway, Sweden and Germany. Overall, fresh products account for a much greater share of the organic market throughout Europe than is the case in the non-organic market. In many countries, and especially in northern Europe, livestock-based foods and in particular milk and dairy products comprise a major proportion of organic product sales. Sales of organic meat and meat products are particularly high in Belgium, the Netherlands, Finland and France, holding market shares of approximately 10%. In contrast, in many other countries the market for organic meat and meat products is much less developed; this appears to be due to both lower processing capacities and major price differentials between organic meat and often low-priced non-organic meat. Cereal products that are easily sold in supermarkets and stores reach fairly high market shares in the Czech Republic, Finland and Norway. Holding a market share of approximately 10%, bread and bakery products play an important role in the organic product range in Switzerland, the Netherlands, France, Sweden, Finland and Germany.

Further details are available in the recently completed compendium Organic Agriculture in Europe – Prospects and Developments. The new handbook contains an overview of EU farming and food policy, case studies on support mechanisms, the latest growth trends in European organic food and agriculture and country reports on sector development from over 30 European countries. The publication is an initiative of the IFOAM EU Mind the CAP campaign that is co-financed by the European Union, Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development. The publishers are IFOAM EU, FiBL and the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute (CIHEAM-IAMB). The printed version (30 euros + postage; IFOAM EU members 15 euros) can be ordered at www.fibl.org/, order number 1634 and shop.ifoam.org/bookstore. More information is available here: www.organic-world.net/.