PRESS RELEASE
September 2015
Healthy development in the global organic market



Germany: Europe’s largest organic products market
USA: largest organic market with unbroken growth
Trend: organic in large-scale catering
Organic is continuing on its successful path and the global market is
developing positively. “Since 1999 organic foods and beverages have
experienced an enormous upturn. At that time the market volume was
just around 15 billion US Dollars. In 2013 it had already risen to
72 billion. We are currently evaluating the data for 2014, but we are
already approaching the 80 billion US Dollar-mark”, said Amarjit
Sahota, Organic Monitor agency (London, GB). In the wake of this
trend, organically farmed land worldwide has risen once again (2013:
43.1 million ha). Again in 2016, the international organic sector will be
coming together for its event highlight, BIOFACH, World’s Leading
Trade Fair for Organic Food, at the exhibition centre Nuremberg.
There, from 10 to 13 February 2016, over 2,400 exhibitors will be
presenting the entire range of organic diversity – 200 of them at
VIVANESS, International Trade Fair for Natural Personal Care.
In 2014, the German organic market rose by 4.8 %. In absolute figures, the
sales of food and beverages sold in the German retail trade (including
natural food retailing), increased from 7.55 to 7.91 billion EUR. This is the
result arrived at by the Arbeitskreis Biomarkt (Organic Market Working
Group) based on data from the German market research institutes
Gesellschaft für Konsumforschung (GfK, Society for Consumer Research),
Nielsen, BioVista along with Klaus Braun Kommunikationsberatung. In this
context, there was considerably more spent on organic products in the
specialist trade (including farm stores): compared with other marketing
channels, at + 9 % this group achieved the highest increase (from 2.4 to
2.6 billion EUR). Its share of organic sales increased from 32 % to 33 %. As
before, the highest organic sales were however achieved by the
conventional retail. In 2014, this was 4.21 billion EUR (2013: 4.06 billion)
coupled with a slightly reduced share of the organic market of 52 % (2013:
53 %). In contrast, declines in sales revenue were recorded by other sales
channels such as bakers, butchers, weekly markets, smaller farm stores,
“Abo-Kisten” (organic products delivery services), mail-order trade, filling
stations and health food stores. Here 1.09 billion EUR was spent – this is a
sales decline of 0.6 %.
In the first half of 2015, the expenditure by private households on fresh
organic products and selected organically processed products (selection
criteria not known) increased by 8.4 % compared to the same period in
2014. In the specialist trade, sales within Germany increased over the
same period by 10.5 %. This result was established by
Kommunikationsberatung Klaus Braun (Speyer, D). The chances of total
organic sales clearly exceeding 8 billion EUR in 2015 are good.
USA: marked turnover increase to over 35 billion US Dollars
In the USA, the marketing of organic products through the specialised retail
trade along with conventional retail channels has once again been crowned
by success. In 2014, the organic market in the United States increased by
11 % and reached a value of 35.9 billion US Dollars (29.5 billion EUR).
Compared to 1997, when the Organic Trade Association (OTA) first
surveyed US organic sales, the market has increased tenfold. According to
further information from the OTA, the organic share of food sales is now
almost 5 %. 13 billion US Dollars alone was spent in 2014 on organic fruit
and vegetables. 12 % of the entire produce here is already organically
based. At +11 %, the dairy products segment was able to achieve
remarkable growth. Turnover of 5.4 billion US Dollars was generated
through sales of organic milk, yoghurt and co. Currently, the American
organic industry is having to contend with a slightly constrained supply
situation particularly with regard to organic raw materials.
France: continual growth in the organic sector
In France there is good demand for organic food and the market is
experiencing continual growth. Compared to the previous year, sales in
BIOFACH 2016: Healthy development in the global organic market
Press release – September 2015
Page 2/5
2014 increased by 10 %. 5 billion Euro was accounted for by organic
products (compare Germany: 7.8 billion Euro). As a result, France is
catching up on the leader Germany. Nine out of ten consumers do at least
from time to time choose to purchase organic products, six out of ten
nevertheless once a month. In order to keep up with this demand, an
increasing number of farmers are switching over to organic. With an
increase of 4 %, the volume of organically farmed land exceeded 1.1 million
ha, according to the semi-governmental Agentur Agence Bio (MontreuilSous-Bois, F). The number of further processors and retailers increased in
2014 to around 13,000 companies, nevertheless 3 % more than in the
previous year. The initial data for 2015 shows a positive trend: in the period
from 1 January to 17 May 2015, they were joined by 1,659 new producers.
This is an increase of 16 % compared to the same period in 2014.
Denmark: organic export champion of Northern Europe
Organic sales turnover in the Nordic countries also developed positively in
2014. However, there is a clear discrepancy in the organic share of the
respective food market. While it is already 8 % in Denmark, for bottom-ofthe-table country Norway it is just 1.4 %. In Denmark now every fourth
carrot and every fourth litre of milk is organic (29 % share of turnover).
Denmark is also the country exporting the most organic products, among
others, to Germany, Sweden, France and the Netherlands, thus achieving
revenue of 204 million EUR in 2014. By 2020 this value is set to once again
more than double if the forecasts by sector Association Organic Denmark
(Aarhus, DK) are to be believed.
In 2014, the Swedish organic market absolutely exploded. It increased by
no less than 38 % and reached a market share of 5.6 %. According to
Ekoweb (Lidköping, S), sales at the end of 2014 were around 1.6 billion
EUR. “The heaviest demand was for the fruit and vegetables product
group”, reports Cecilia Ryegård, editor of a trade publication on organic
sales figures in Sweden. “And the best part is: the growth is continuing: In
the first six months of 2015 we are expecting an increase of at least 25 %”,
she went on to add.
BIOFACH 2016: Healthy development in the global organic market
Press release – September 2015
Page 3/5
According to details supplied by the Norwegian agricultural authorities,
sales in Norway in 2014 reached the equivalent of around 256 million EUR.
Despite the low level, the 28 % increase in goods sold in the supermarkets
was however considerable.
Switzerland: highest organic per-capita consumption
In 2014, the Swiss organic market increased by 7.5 %. Sales of organic
products thus rose to 2.2 billion CHF (around 1.8 billion EUR), the percapita consumption rose to 269 Franken (2013: 223 EUR). It is the highest
in Europe. The share of organic farming land also increased slightly in 2014
and is now at 12.3 %, whereby already one in 5 ha in the mountain regions
is organically farmed. The majority of the organic products in Switzerland
are sold through two major chains. The market leader is the Coop with a
46.5 % market share of entire organic sales in Switzerland, followed by
Migros (27.5 %). The natural food specialist retail accounts for just about 13
%. This is followed by other specialist stores and direct marketers. At + 15
%, Migros has been able to clearly increase its organic sales, but the
natural food specialist retail also achieved an increase of 7.4 %.
Great Britain: market slowly recovering
Following years of stagnation in the organic sector, the market has now
recovered. In 2014, with growth of 4 %, the organic food sector in the
United Kingdom achieved sales of 1.86 billion GBP (2.37 billion EUR).
Trend: more organic in communal catering
In France, in the last seven years, sales of organic products in the
commercial/large-scale catering sector increased strongly: they have
increased more than fivefold. Now, 2.7 % of procurement for commercial
kitchens in the social sector is accounted for by organically produced
articles. In 2008, it was just 0.6 %. This corresponds to a financial value of
191 million EUR, which was used in canteens, refractories and other
commercial kitchen facilities. In 2014, the increase was 11 %. According to
surveys in France, 87 % of respondents stated they were interested in
organic food supplies for schools. For years, the greatest endeavours made
throughout Europe aimed at achieving this in the public sector have been
BIOFACH 2016: Healthy development in the global organic market
Press release – September 2015
Page 4/5
undertaken by Denmark. There, in 2014, organic products worth a total of
160 mill. EUR were used in the communal catering sector.
Contact for press and media
Barbara Böck, Helen Kreisel-Gebhard, Marie-Claire Ritzer
Tel.: +49 (0) 9 11. 86 06-86 46
Fax: +49 (0) 9 11. 86 06-12 86 46
[email protected]
All press articles along with additional information and photos are available
at: www.biofach.de/press
BIOFACH 2016: Healthy development in the global organic market
Press release – September 2015
Page 5/5