Double-digit organic market growth in Europe

Europeans spent around 10.4% more on organic products in 2017, so the European organic market showed double-digit growth for the third year in succession.

+On average, each European bought around EUR 47 worth of organic foods per year, and as much as EUR 67 in the EU-28. Overall, according to a joint assessment by the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL) and the Agricultural Market Information Service (AMI), Europeans invested EUR 37.3 billion in organic products, EUR 34.3 billion of it in the European Union (EU-28).

The strongest-growing organic market in 2017 was France, where customers bought over EUR 1 billion more organic foods and beverages, equal to an 18% increase. The organic market also showed great dynamism, with double-digit growth in many other countries such as Spain, Denmark, Luxemburg, Finland, Austria, Ireland and Liechtenstein.

In the lead by far was Denmark, where organic had a 13.3% share of the food market. Its neighbor Sweden followed at 9.1%, just ahead of Switzerland with 9.0%. Germany took sixth place in the European comparison, with a 5.1% market share. The Swiss spent the most money on organic food and drink in 2017 – as they already did in the previous years – a full EUR 289 EUR per person for organic foodstuffs and beverages, followed by the Danes (EUR 278) and Swedes (EUR 237). Germany, with EUR 122, followed in seventh place behind Luxemburg, Austria and Liechtenstein.

Supermarkets sold over 90% of all organic products, in both Denmark and Sweden. Retailers in both countries constantly enlarged their organic product range, even in remote rural regions. Government action plans also exerted pressure, e.g. out-of-house catering, which has become an important sales channel for organic in both Scandinavian countries. In 2017, the Danish 3-step system in out-ofhouse catering, the Organic Cuisine logo introduced in 2009, was already used by 1,800 communal catering kitchens. The logo shows the proportion of organic ingredients in the meal, thus revealing the commitment of canteens and restaurants. +++

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