Europe’s organic market worth €45 billion

Global consumer demand for organic food increased substantially during the pandemic, with evidence that retail sales have increased by as much as 30% in some countries. But even before the impact of COVID-19, organic food sales continued to grow, heading towards the € 110 billion mark. According to the latest consolidated data, retail sales worldwide had already reached more than €106 billion in 2019. In Europe, retail sales of organic food amounted to €45 billion in 2019 (€41.4 billion in the EU), an increase of 8% from 2018, according to a report by Fruit Attraction, referencing the FiBL and IFOAM – Organics International (2021) publication.

In 2019, the country with the largest market for organic food was the United States (€44.7 billion), followed by Germany (€12.1 billion), France (€11.3 billion) and China (€ 8.5 billion). After Germany and France, the next largest organic food retail markets in Europe were Italy with €3.6 billion, Switzerland with €2.9 billion, the UK with €2.7 billion, Sweden with €2.14 billion and Spain with €2.14 billion. Market growth was observed in all countries for which 2019 data was available, and in some cases this was in the double digits. France posted the highest growth, with its market expanding by 13.4%. In 2019, Denmark had the highest per capita consumption (€344) worldwide, followed by Switzerland (€338), Luxembourg (€265) and Austria (€216). Denmark has the largest share of the total organic food market globally, with 12.1%, followed by Switzerland (10.4%), Austria (9.3%), Sweden (9%) and Luxembourg (8.6%).