Organic Food Market

The market for organic food declined by 1.5% in 2012 according to the Soil Association’s annual ‘Organic Market Report’.  This continues the trend of previous years; a 3.7% decline was seen in 2011, 5.7% in 2010 and nearly 13% in 2009.  The area of land managed organically in the UK also continues to fall.  In July 2012 the organic land area was down 8.7% from the previous year to 656,000 hectares – around 3.8% of the total agricultural land in the UK.  The number of producers and processors fell by 4.9% to 6,929 in 2012 as the difficult growing and marketing conditions appear to have taken their toll.

But the Soil Association has identified areas of significant growth for some organic products.  Although sales have been ‘subdued’ on the high street, online purchases and large specialist retailers in well-placed locations have seen increased sales.  Growth has also been seen in parts of the dairy sector (yoghurt and cream), non-food products and catering.  The horsemeat scandal may also have had a positive impact.  According to the SA some independent organic meat suppliers have reported sales increasing by up to 20% over the last month.  Furthermore figures from Kantar Worldpanel show that in February 2013 total supermarket organic sales were at their highest level for nine months.  The full report can be found at – http://www.soilassociation.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=whbpEnZUd7A%3d&tabid=1984