Sales of U.S. manufactured organic products grew 38 percent during the past year, reports the Organic Trade Association’s 2001 Manufacturers’ Market Survey. This rate far surpasses the estimated 20 – 25 percent annual growth for the organic market in general and the conventional grocery industry’s annual growth rate of 3 to 5 percent.
The fastest-growing categories are meat/dairy alternatives such as soyfoods (215%), organic meat, poultry, eggs (64%), miscellaneous canned and jarred products (51%) and dairy (40%). from OTA’s The survey projects similarly continued strong growth for the coming year.
One of the most dramatic changes, compared to 1998, was the shift to mass-market channels. Mass-market groceries accounted for 45 percent of organic food product sales in 2001, compared to only 31 percent in the 1998 survey.
43 percent of the U.S. population purchased organic foods or beverages in the past year, according to the Natural Marketing Institute’s Organic Consumer Trends Study.
Canada’s organic sector rang up $1 billion in retail sales last year. The number of certified organic producers rose by 20 percent from 1998- 1999, to about 2,321. This is still a tiny .8 percent of the total number of farms in Canada, according to Canadian Organic Growers. Canadian Agriculture and Agri-Food’s Minister announced $600,000 in federal funding to help Canadian organic food producers increase their share of the international marketplace.
In their report, “Next Generation Organics”, Datamonitor predicts the UK market will become the largest for organic food over the next five years (it currently ranks third in Europe). UK citizens are expected to spend $69.50 per capita, well above the European average of $42.
They point out that organic food is still a niche, although it is rapidly developing, and that certain products do better as organic than others. Iceland Supermarket in the UK learned this the hard way – they failed when they completely switched to organic frozen products. Datamonitor concludes that customers are not ready for full-scale conversion to organic food.
Next Generation Organics 2001: [sorry this link is no longer available]
Organic Trade Association: http://www.ota.com
Loading...