The organic food and drink market has seen a decade of positive growth despite the Covid-19 pandemic and Brexit related challenges, the Soil Association has revealed.
According to a new report, the market grew 5.2% last year, with nearly £60 million spent on organic food and drink a week.
The total organic market has also seen a 23% increase in just two years, with online sales (including box schemes) reporting a 13% increase worth £558 million.
The report also showed a strong performance across all food and drink sectors including supermarkets, independent retailers and food service where there was growth of 2.4%, 9% and 3.3% respectively.
In the supermarkets the top four organic categories contribute three quarters (74%) of sales and are growing ahead of their non-organic equivalents.
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These products include dairy (with almost £500m sales up 0.7% on 2020), produce (£438m up 1.8%), ambient grocery (£315m down 6.2%), and meat, fish and poultry (£202m up 5.5%).
“Despite challenges across all aspects of production, supply and the market, organic businesses have shown phenomenal resilience and responded to (continually increasing) shopper demand for products that support both health and the environment,” Soil Association certification business development director Clare McDermott said.
“Shoppers are increasingly looking for products that reflect their values and organic is meeting that need. The wider organic choice available online is bringing new shoppers to the category.”
She added: “Box scheme sales continue to be strong as shoppers look for provenance and traceability in their choices and over a fifth of organic food and drink sold through supermarkets is now online.
“With shoppers in the UK now spending £60 million a week on organic, there is a huge opportunity for organic businesses to innovate both in channel and product and continue growing the market.”
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