Significant Increase in French Organic Market as Gap Closes with Germany
9th October 2020
Finnian O' Luasa, Manager France & Belgium, Bord Bia - The Irish Food Board
As mentioned in recent food alerts France is a major market for organic food in Europe and quickly adopting to new consumer habits with online sales particularly following the Covid crises. The French organic market increased by 13.5% in 2019 compared to 2018 to reach 11.93Bn €, very close the EU leading market Germany which is worth 11.97Bn€ (+10%). France will quite possible become Europe’s most important organic food market therefore in the near future if velocity of growth continues as seen in Q1 2020 when sales growth of organic food significantly outperformed sales of non-organic foods.
The market share of organic food as part of overall food purchases in France is 6.1% compared to 5.7% in Germany and an impressive 9% in Sweden which has the highest purchasing share of organic food and demonstrates the continued potential for growth in other markets.
Mainstream supermarkets are the main outlets for organic food sales in France, followed by specialised organic food outlets such as Biocoop, La Vie Claire, Biomonde, Naturalia. The main categories sold under the organic label are general groceries followed by Fruit & vegetables, dairy and meat. Growth was noted mainly in the frozen category (+31%); beer (+24%) and groceries (+16%).
The surface of agricultural land for organic production in France has doubled in 5 years from 1.1 M Ha in 2014 to 2.3 M Ha in 2019 which represents 8.5% or the overall agricultural surface and contributes to the healthy market growth due to a greater and more structured offer.
Sources:
https://www.lsa-conso.fr/coronavirus-les-ventes-de-bio-en-forte-progression,345565
https://www.agencebio.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/DP-AGENCE-BIO-CHIFFRES-2019_def.pdf
https://www.lsa-conso.fr/coronavirus-les-ventes-de-bio-en-forte-progression,345565