The organic retail market in Wales

A new report has just been published – The Organic Retail Market in Wales. Four reports on the organic market in Wales were commissioned and published between 2009 and 2011 for dairy, red meat, horticulture and pigs and poultry; and consumer research was carried out in 2010 and 2013. However, data on retail sales have not been covered in similar detail and this report attempts to fill that gap in market intelligence.

The value of the organic market in Wales/West is estimated to be in the range £100m -140m (about €139m - €195m) through all channels. Organic producers and processors in Wales are trading with supply chain partners in Wales, in the rest of the UK and beyond. Investment in processing capacities suitable for this specialist market could add further value and improve the growth potential of the sector. A high percentage of Welsh organic businesses have reported positive news in 2014 with 53% reporting increased sales in this period. The majority of businesses also expect their sales to rise in the year ahead – this gives a positive outlook for the trends in 2015. 

Welsh producers generally seemed to be reasonably positive about direct sales with 34% expecting sales to increase and 55% anticipating no change. 70% of the producers surveyed said that they would definitely or probably continue in direct sales. In supermarkets, growth is slightly behind the rest of the UK at 6.2% despite it being 34% of total organic sales in Wales. Produce (vegetables, fruit and salad) is important in organic production and in sales inside and outside supermarkets. The full report is available here.