The future looks bright for sales of organic food in the UK with a growing number of consumers developing a taste for these foods. Supermarket chains are mainly responsible for driving this growth.

News on Business Scotsman reported leading retailers revealing a strong upsurge in sales of organic food in Britain regardless of a decline in overall consumer spending that resulted in the struggle by locally produced supplies to keep up with the demand.

Business Scotsman published news that carried a statement by David Cheesewright, chief financial officer for supermarket chain ASDA saying, "We've put a lot more choices in those areas (organic and premium own-brand) and they are growing very strongly.”

Sales of organic food in the UK exceeded £1 billion in 2006. There was a 9.3% rise in expenditure on pesticide-free goods in shops. And, 19% of the total organic growth came from milk, while organic meat, fish, and poultry sales surged 11.5%. Alcohol also did well with sales of organic varieties rising 13.6% to £24m.

The number of British households purchasing organic products last year was in excess of 20 million, 1.6 million of which were first timers. London and the Southeast accounted for the biggest shoppers of organic produce, with 43% of all sales.

Behind the growth in sales are concerns about health, environment and food safety. The growth is mainly fuelled by supermarket chains with most of the top grocers in expansion mode for their range of organic produce last year (2006).

Consumers of organics are mainly older and wealthier than the average individual. Their desire for consuming foods they consider healthy is increasing. Apart from the wealthy and older buyers, organic products are also being purchased by parents with young children. There has been an overwhelming growth in organic baby food. Even though the organic market in the UK depends upon a small group of regular customer, their count is ever increasing thanks to the rise in disposable income (DI) and greater expectancy of life. Phenomenal potential exists for conversion of occasional & trial customers in to regular consumers.

A RNCOS research analyst concludes that there is a domination of the UK food-retail market by a limited number of various retailers. About 82% of organic sales are now attributed to these supermarket chains. The increasing control of the supermarkets has exacted a toll on the market-shares for independent food-retailers, health food stores, market stalls & farms. Nevertheless, organic products’ growing popularity has actually boosted value of sales in the smaller outlets.

Related Market Research Reports:
Australian Organic Agriculture - Industry Analysis
European Organic Food Market
World Organic Foods And Beverages Report (2006)