Laura McDonald, Bord Bia Paris

The future is bright for the French organic food sector. In spite of the economic downturn and slow growth the overall food industry is currently experiencing, a recent study carried out by Percerota (The Xerfi Group) suggests that the sector will grow by as much as 8% by 2012.

Organic food sales in France alone are expected to reach €3.7 billion by 2012 compared to €1.8billion in 2006. The study suggests that by 2012, around 2.5% of household consumption will be organic.

The multiple retailers dominate with an estimated share of 45% of the organic market by 2012, as a result of a wide range of private label and organic products. There is now approximately 280,000m² of retail space in 2,000 stores dedicated to organic produce, representing a 36% increase from 2006. Even discounters such as Lidl are now offering a range of organic fruit and vegetables and French discounter Leader Price has developed it’s own range of organic produce.

The launch of new organic supermarkets (Biostore this year and Naturéo last year) shows the growth potential which this sector offers for suppliers looking for new distribution channels. These specialised organic stores are expected to grow and reach 31% market share by 2012 in comparison to 23% in 2005.

Among the multiple retailers, Monoprix is the market leader. The group, who were the first to launch a range of organic products in 1990, currently have 300 private label organic products. Carrefour and Casino have between 150 to 300 organic references whereas Intermarché, Leclerc and Systéme U are currently playing catch up.

French specialised retailers Biocoop (317 stores), La Vie Claire (187 stores), Naturalia (40 stores), Satoriz (30 stores) and Natureo (3 hypermarkets) are among the largest chains in the specialised organic sector and have been invited to Marketplace 2010 to meet with Irish organic producers.