Organic food sales show increase

Organic food and drink sales reached £82m during September, an increase of 15.5% on the previous four weeks.

The increase surpassed the sales of organic produce during Christmas 2008 and 2009 and shows the greatest four-weekly increase in sales in the past 18 months.

The period included Organic Fortnight, a promotional blitz run by the organic body Soil Association, which ran from 3-17 September.

The fortnight saw many retailers putting more support behind sales of organic products including on-shelf promotions and, for example, the launch of Duchy Originals at Waitrose.

Waitrose managing director Mark Price said he believed that organic foods were “coming back” and that sales of these products were reviving.

And Finn Cottle from the Soil Association added: “This is great news for the organic sector and demonstrates that consumer confidence is returning.

“It seems that sales are stabilising and we are looking forward to growth again.”