Organic sales plummet as recession bites

Sales of organic products plummeted by 12.9% in the UK last year, the latest market figures have revealed.

Organic sales were worth £1.84bn in 2009, according to the Organic Market Report published by the Soil Association on Monday (12 April).

Despite the toughest economic climate for 20 years, the report claimed to have unearthed clear signs of increasing consumer confidence in organics.

Based on evidence from the early months of this year, the Soil Association predicted a modest market expansion of between 2% to 5% in 2010.

The three biggest categories of organic food – dairy, fruit and vegetables, and fresh meat – saw supermarket sales fall by 6.5%, 14.8% and 22.7% respectively.

But organic milk bucked the trend in dairy sales growing by 1%, with 2009 being the best year for organic milk sales on record.

Sales of organic baby food sales grew by 20.8% passing the £100m mark.

Organically managed land area in the UK increased to 743,516ha in January 2009 – up 9% on the previous year – and now represents 4.3% of UK farmland.

Soil Association policy director Peter Melchett said: “It has been a tough year for the organic market.”

The best-performing businesses were those that were most committed to communicating the benefits of organic food and farming, said Lord Melchett.

“Confidence is now returning, and with the growing recognition of the need for environmentally sustainable production systems that are less reliant on fossil fuels, we are confident that the organic market, having weathered the recession, will return to growth.”

Organic box schemes fell by 9.8% during 2009 while supermarket sales of organic fell by 12.2%. The independent sector saw sales fall 17.7%;

Worst hit were sales of bread and other bakery items which plummeted 39.8%.

However, the report showed sales of organic food were still three times higher than in 1999 and over 50% higher than five years ago.

Tesco predicted that overall organic sales would increase by 1% in 2010 while Waitrose anticipated organic sales growth of 3 to 5%, the report claimed.