Organic food and drink’s performance dipped over past year
© Tim Scrivener The organic food and drink market has seen a decline in volume sales since October 2021, the AHDB has reported.
After a long period of growth, sales were down 16% year-on-year for the 12 weeks ending 10 July 2022, correlating with an increase in prices.
While consumers are willing to buy organic, price remains a key barrier, made worse by inflation, and to counter this, the environmental and health benefits of the products must be further highlighted to justify the price premium, said the AHDB.
See also: Organic dairy farming in 2022: Opportunities and challenges
The organic market makes up 1.2% of total food and drink volume (2019: 1%) and is worth £1.2bn, according to retail analyst Kantar.
Dairy
Organic dairy accounts for 2.9% of total dairy retail volumes, but has seen a steep decline in volume sales since January 2022, alongside a swift increase in price.
Despite both organic and non-organic dairy experiencing a 3% increase in price, organic dairy has only seen a 2.0% volume decline year-on-year, while non-organic dairy recorded a sharper decline of 6.5% year-on-year to June 2022, according to Kantar.
Meat, fish and poultry
In the year to 10 July 2022, organic meat, fish and poultry made up a 0.2% share of the total market volume.
Volume sales of the organic products have seen consistent decline since October 2021, when organic saw its highest sale levels to date.
This decrease coincides with a significant rise in price, with the average price of organic meat, fish and poultry increasing by 5%, from £11.83/kg to £12.40/kg.
The average price of the non-organic equivalent is now £6.52/kg – a 4% increase from October 2021.
Beef, lamb, chicken, and fish have all seen volume declines year-on-year. The main source driving this decline is due to shoppers no longer buying organic meat off promotion.
Unlike the other proteins, pigmeat has performed well, owing to 89% of sales coming through processed pork, which generally has a more accessible price.