Germany: turnover in the specialist trade grows by 4 %

A good start to 2010: in the first quarter of 2010 turnover in the specialist wholefood trade in Germany rose by 4.3 % compared with the same period last year. This figure is derived from regular evaluation of the operating results of more than 300 businesses that take part in the turnover barometer of the publisher Bio Verlag.

Developments in the various types of outlet were comparatively uniform in the first quarter of 2010: farm shops, that have achieved below average growth rates over the last two years, started the first quarter with a rise of 3.8 % in daily turnover (compared with negative growth of 3.6 % last year). 2009 closed with small wholefood shops achieving a rise of 2.3 %. Specialist wholefood shops showed a gain of 4.6 % (negative growth of 1.0 % last year). Organic supermarkets increased their turnover by 4.3 % compared with the first few months of 2009. So in terms of growth dynamic, the first quarter of 2010 faired much better than the negative growth of 1.1 % recorded a year ago.