That emerges from a new report by research center FiBL and from new German figures presented at the opening of the Biofach trade fair in Nuremberg.
The Research Institute of Organic Agriculture FiBL is one of the world’s leading institutes in the field of organic agriculture, with locations in Switzerland (founded in 1973), Germany (2000), Austria (2004), France (2017), and a representation in Brussels.
With a market share of 12 percent, Denmark still leads the way when it comes to organic food consumption. This has created strong innovative power in Danish organic companies, of which 27 are present at Europe’s largest organic trade fair, Biofach.
Following the trade fair, the report ‘The World of Organic Agriculture’ was published by the research center. It gathers knowledge and statistics from around the world – and once again declares Denmark world champion in ecology based on sales figures from 2022.
The report also shows that in Europe, sales of organic food decreased by two percent in 2022. The main causes were inflation, the energy crisis, the war in Ukraine, and the fact that supply chains are under pressure. On the other hand, the organic market in the United States has made progress.
According to the FiBL report, the US, Germany, and China are the leading organic markets worldwide and are therefore also interesting for Danish food companies. The report ‘The World of Organic Agriculture’ shows that organic farming is growing globally. The organic agricultural area was also enlarged in 2022, so it now accounts for two percent of the total agricultural area worldwide.
In Germany, sales in the organic food market increased last year to approximately 16.1 billion euros. This emerges from new figures published by the Federation of Organic Food Industry (BÖLW), also announced at the opening of Biofach in Nuremberg.
According to the umbrella organization, sales of organic food in the retail sector, including drugstores, rose by 7.2 percent to 10.8 billion euros, holding a market share of 67 percent. According to BÖLW, 40 percent of this went to discount stores. The organic specialty stores were only able to increase turnover by 0.2 percent to about 3.2 billion euros.
The organic cultivation area in German agriculture grew by more than 4 percent. Recently, a total of 11.8 percent of all agricultural land was organically farmed. The organic area amounted to 1.940 million hectares.
According to BÖLW, about two-thirds of this met the stricter standards of the organic associations. One in seven agricultural enterprises in Germany operated organically in 2023, which corresponds to a total of 36,535 organic farms.