2007 03

Wed, 07 Mar 2007

Strong growth internationally in organic food sector

By Cornelie Unger-Leistner and Christian von Arnim

NUREMBERG (NNA) – The organic food business is booming. Figures released at this year’s BioFach trade show in Germany, the largest of its kind in the world, show that 14.5bn euros of organic foods were consumed in the EU in 2005.

Top consumer was Germany, followed by Britain, France and Italy.

The figures, announced at the BioFach last month by the British business research and consulting company Organic Monitor, also reveal that the global turnover in organic products is growing by over 5bn US dollars per year and will break through the 40bn dollar barrier in 2007, Organic Monitor estimates.

Other figures released at the trade fair show that the organic sector is well on the way out of its niche existence. There were more than 45,000 trade visitors – an increase of 21 percent - and the number of exhibitors too grew by 20 percent compared to the previous year to 2565.

A new addition is Vivaness, a separate specialist show for “natural personal care and wellness” with 125 exhibitors which will be held at the same time as the BioFach.

A good two-thirds of BioFach exhibitors came from abroad with 80 nations being represented. A special place was taken by Italy, designated “Country of the Year”, with a wide range of organic products whose inviting scent drew in the visitors.

The organic sector is developing at various speeds internationally. The boom countries include Germany, the US, Britain and Sweden. Turnover in organic products is expected to double in these countries in the next five years.

These countries stimulated international competition to produce the best organic concepts and were important import markets, a BioFach statement said. In this way they were supporting organic farming and processing in many export-orientated countries.

Organic farming was growing everywhere in Europe, the statement said. In this context Spain is one of the leading countries in the EU with growth of 10% to more than 800,000 hectares under organic cultivation in 2005.

The Danish organic industry too was expanding again after five years of stagnation. According to Danmarks Statistik, sales of organic products rose by 12% in 2005.

Developments in Britain were particularly interesting, according to BioFach. Whereas the British food market grew by only 3% in 2005, the organic market surged with a remarkable 30%, three times as much as the year before, BioFach quotes the Soil Association as saying. The total turnover reached 1.6bn pounds sterling.

Two out of three consumers in Great Britain deliberately chose organic products and over half the low earners even bought organic products now. The organic marketing leaders are the conventional supermarkets. In Central and Eastern Europe, too, there has been rapid growth. The German-Polish corporate consultant SixtyTwo estimates the organic turnover in Poland at 50m euros. The number of organic farms rose to 7,183 and the organic area doubled to 167,740 hectares in 2005. The Polish Ministry of Agriculture has earmarked some 3.1m euros for organic promotion. The organic area in Lithuania has grown from a mere 148 hectares in 1993 to 70,389 hectares a good decade later at the end of 2005. This equates to an organic share of 1.5%. The Lithuanian government has supported organic farming with direct payments since 1997.

The action plan of the Latvian agriculture ministry is based on a share of 2.3% of agricultural land by the end of 2006. The sale of organic products on the domestic market is to rise to 2%. In Turkey, too, the first weekly organic market has taken place in Istanbul every Saturday since summer 2006, with up to 3,000 visitors, BioFach reports. The around 100 stalls offer only certified organic products – and these at moderate prices that are barely 20% above the prices of conventional produce.

Organic flour and corn have not been available in sufficient quantity on the Turkish organic market until now, so the Istanbul city authorities developed a farming contract project. The Istanbul IHE bakery meanwhile bakes organic bread and sponsors the training of the farmers. The project was launched in ten cities in Turkey in 2005 under the name of “Organic Farming – Organic Bread”, BioFach reports.

The entry of large food chains like Wal-Mart, Supervalu and Safeway into the organic market in the USA means that rising sales figures for organic food can be expected there again in 2006. The turnover in 2005 was 13.8bn US dollars, which corresponds to just under three times the German organic market. The organic share of the whole US food market is 2.5%, which is slightly below the German figure.

In Germany, the country in the EU with the highest organic consumption, turnover in the organic sector has been growing at two-figure rates in the last four years. In 2006 alone, Germans ate organic products to the value of 4.5bn euros, representing growth of 16 percent, and securing an estimated 160,000 jobs.

But German figures also show a trend which is of wider concern in the food retail sector: organic supermarkets, the conventional retail food trade and discounters are putting pressure on local organic shops and direct marketing by the producers whose market share is falling, the BioFach statement says.

NNA/end/ung/cva

Item: 070307-01EN Date: 7 March 2007

More NNA reports at: www.nna-news.org/en/

First German nature conservation prize for farmers

BONN (NNA) – The commitment of farmers to nature conservation was honoured for the first time in Germany this year with a prize. The Federal Nature Conservation Agency (BfN) and the Ecology and Agriculture Foundation (SÖL) together awarded the “Support prize for farms engaged in nature conservation”.

The three prize winner also include a Demeter establishment, the farm of Uwe Wüst in Königheim-Brehmen in the Main-Tauber district south of Frankfurt. The other two winners were the “Brockenbauer” farm in Tanne in Saxony-Anhalt and the Seiler vineyard in Weiher in Rhineland-Palatinate.

A further nine farms, including two Demeter establishments, were commended for their commitment to nature conservation.

NNA/end/ung/cva

Link: www.naturschutzhoefe.de

Item: 070307-02EN Date: 7 March 2007

More NNA reports at: www.nna-news.org/en/

Demeter seeking farmers

NUREMBERG (NNA) – To meet the growing demand among consumers for organic foods, the Demeter Association in Germany is looking for more producers willing to convert to the bio-dynamic method of cultivation.

“We need more bio-dynamic produce and are looking for farmers who are interested in working to the Demeter quality standard,” Stephan Illi, chief executive of the Demeter Association said on occasion of the BioFach organic trade show in Nuremberg.

Demeter has therefore started a poster campaign to draw attention to the market potential for bio-dynamic products. The organic market was demanding more “Demeter raw materials” and more foods carrying the Demeter label, which was seen as particularly trustworthy by consumers, Demeter said in a statement.

There were bottlenecks particularly in grain and milk.

NNA/end/ung/cva

Item: 070307-03EN Date: 7 March 2007

More NNA reports at: www.nna-news.org/en/

﻿Strong growth internationally in organic food sector

﻿First German nature conservation prize for farmers

﻿Demeter seeking farmers

Strong growth internationally in organic food sector

First German nature conservation prize for farmers

Demeter seeking farmers