The Italian market for organic products reaches 5 billion, of which 4 billion is domestic consumption and the remainder is consumption away from home. The performance of exports was excellent, worth 3.4 billion, +16% on 2021. Modern distribution established itself as the most important sales channel, worth 58% of the total, around 2.3 billion (+1.6% over the previous year) leading (+4%) to private label products. Overall, among the organic products most consumed by Italians, milk, breakfast cereals, eggs, spreadable creams and foods for early childhood stand out. Over a decade, from 2012 to 2022, domestic consumption grew by 132% and exports did even better with +181%. Germany, France and Benelux are the key export markets for Made in Italy organic products. These are the latest Nomisma data on the organic market presented in Nuremberg during Biofach on the occasion of the presentation of the 35th edition of Sana (BolognaFiere, 7-10 September 2023), the international exhibition of organic and natural products promoted by BolognaFiere in collaboration with FederBio, AssoBio and Cosmetica Italia. It will be a purely B2B event, with ample space for veg and free-from products. «The September event will, as always, be an opportunity to take stock of market trends and innovations with all the sector’s stakeholders» explain Domenico Lunghi and Claudia Castello, director of BolognaFiere and exhibition manager of Sana while Paolo Carnemolla, general secretary of FederBio , takes stock of the situation: «The collaboration between FederBio and Naturand is strategic to strengthen credibility and support the growth of organic farming in Italy and Europe.
Together, we are addressing companies to encourage the growth of agricultural land destined for organic farming, but we are also acting on consumers to increase the demand for organic products”.
I trend in Europa
In 2021, the European market for organic products reached 54.5 billion euros, of which 46.7 in the EU. This is revealed by the 24th yearbook on world organic agriculture edited by FiBL, the research institute specialized in the sector. Also in 2021 Italy confirms the primacy of European country with the highest number of growers and processors of organic products. 17% of farmers and 27% of processors out of over 40 European countries considered are Italian. Those with the largest organic agricultural areas are France (16% of organic agricultural areas), followed by Spain, Italy and Germany. All indicators testify to the structural growth trend of the sector, even if the market (+4% on 2020) has slowed down compared to the exploits of 2020 (+15% on 2019). In the EU, citizens spent an average of 104.3 euros per capita on the purchase of organic food, with values doubling in the last 10 years (2012-21). The most important market is Germany, with 15.9 billion euros a year in retail sales, followed by France and Italy.