Italy, organic industry doesn’t stop its climb

Italian organic market has grown by 6.9% in 2009, according to recent figures by research institute ISMEA on domestic purchases. The increase rate is even higher than in 2008 (+5.2%). According to the ISMEA survey, the best market performance as for single items are registered for fresh and processed fruit and vegetables (+26.6% increase in value) and eggs (+21.8% ), while purchases of drinks and bread (and its substitutes) has grown at lower rates (respectively by 5.7% and 8.7%) while milk products registered a drop by 1.9%.

As for geographical distribution of organic consumption, it is mainly concentrated in Northern Italy. In the North there is over 70% of domestic purchases (43.1% in the North-West and 27.9% in the North-East), while the Center, including Sardinia and the South represent respectively 21.6% and 7.5% of the total.

Finally, with regard to organic purchases by distribution channel (the survey does not include specialized stores), in 2009 purchases in large scale retailers have increased, especially in hypermarkets, which showed an increase by 14.7%, while much smaller was the increase in supermarkets (+1.5%). »
 

President of the Italian Association for Organic Agriculture Andrea Ferrante commented: « While the economic crisis does not spare even the other certified quality branches, such as PDO and PGI, which lost 1.3%, the growth of the organic industry proves a successful strategy that bets on involving consumers in a way of life according to which purchasing a product is only the end of a full share of goals and aspirations. »

Source: greenmed.eu