Dhe organic industry turned over less in 2022 than in the previous year: people in Germany spent 15.3 billion euros on organic food. That is 3.5 percent less than in 2021, as the Bund Ökologische Lebensmittelwirtschaft (BÖLW) announced on Tuesday as part of the Biofach natural food fair in Nuremberg.
This means that the segment remains stronger than it was before the pandemic: sales increased by 25 percent compared to the pre-corona year 2019. Especially during the pandemic, Germans bought more organic products because they were cooking more at home due to the lockdowns.
Discounter profits, organic food trade loses
Retailers also benefited the most last year: they were able to increase their revenues by 3.2 percent to 10.2 billion euros. Around two-thirds of the organic market is already accounted for by food retailers. Sales at full-range retailers, including the Rewe and Edeka supermarkets, for example, remained stable. However, the industry is also reporting a trend towards cheaper products. The discounters in particular were able to benefit from this with their cheaper organic goods. Consumers are trying to save due to inflation and are therefore particularly turning to the cheaper organic private labels.
The natural food trade, on the other hand, recorded a decline, with sales falling by more than 12 percent compared to the previous year. Farm shops, online trade, bakeries, butchers and health food stores even achieved 18 percent less sales compared to 2021.
Overall, however, organic food has also risen less in price than conventional food. “The positive organic development in recent years shows that consumers choose organic when they have a choice,” says the press release.
On the other hand, the association criticizes the fact that the range of organic food in restaurants, canteens and canteens is not sufficient – the organic share here is 2 percent. “It is now all the more important that the federal, state and local governments ensure more organic food in public catering and thus enable healthy, sustainable and inexpensive catering for everyone,” it continues.
The numbers of the organic association are announced every year at the organic food fair Biofach. Around 2,700 exhibitors from around 90 countries are expected at the world’s largest organic trade fair and the parallel natural cosmetics fair Vivaness.
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