U.S. organic sales over 50 billion dollars

In 2018, U.S. citizens spend 52.5 billion dollars (46.8 billion euros) on organic food and natural products. The Organic Trade Association announced that this represents a 6.3 percent increase in sales compared to 2017.

Every year, OTA collects data on organic sales in the US in their Organic Industry Survey. This entails both organic food and non-food products, such as natural cosmetics and organic textiles. For organic food, an increase in sales of 5.9 percent to 47.9 billion dollars (42.7 billion euros) was reported by the OTA. More than a third of this was accounted for by fruit and vegetables. The share of organic in total food sales reached 5.7 percent. Non-food sales increased by 10.6 percent to 4.6 billion dollars (4.1 billion euros).

The most important market drivers according to the OTA are the Millennials, the generation born in the early 1980s to late 1990s, and young families. Further explanations stated in the OTA-market analysis are the increasing power of the organic logo, as consumers become more aware that it guarantees a range of “free from” characteristics: free from genetically modified organisms, free from toxic pesticides, free from artificial dyes and preservatives.

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