U.S. natural products sales grew 9.7% in 2006, reaching $56.76 billion in total sales, according to The Natural Foods Merchandiser 2007 Market Overview.
“U.S. consumers continue to demonstrate a growing appetite for natural and organic products, as manufacturers and retailers expand into new and nontraditional areas and deepen their offerings. In fact, total sales for the natural and organic industry increased 56 percent between 2002 and 2006,” said Spencer.
Natural personal care sales grew by 18.4 percent to $2.78 billion and natural pet product sales increased 15.1 percent to $367 million. Other organic categories showing strong growth were coffee and tea at 23.3 percent and nutrition bars at 22 percent. Food sales in natural product stores were up 11.7 percent, with the hottest sales categories being fresh meat and seafood, as well as beer and wine. Produce remains the largest category with sales of $3.3 billion, up 11.5 percent over 2005.
The retail channel accounted for 81.2 percent, or $46.06 billion, of total sales. For the second consecutive year, natural products retailers drove double-digit growth–this year at a 10.7 percent rate. Natural products retailers accounted for close to 50 percent of total market revenues with sales of $28.27 billion.
The Market Overview is produced jointly by The Natural Foods Merchandiser and its sister publication, Nutrition Business Journal®, a leading source of market research and strategic business information for manufacturers and suppliers in the nutrition industry.
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