Sales of organic products fell for the first time last year, reports “Le Figaro”. This trend can be explained by several reasons.
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It could be about the end of an era of glory for organic products. As Le Figaro indicates, sales from the organic market fell by 1.34% in 2021, according to figures from Agence bio. This is quite simply a first since the organization published its studies, which have shown, year after year, uninterrupted growth.
However, not all branches of the industry show the same state of affairs. Large retailers, which supply half of organic products to the French, saw their sales fall by 3.9% over the past year. The finding is even more damning with regard to those of specialized distribution, with the Biocoop, Naturalia and La Vie claire brands in particular, which plummeted by 8%. Conversely, those from direct farm sales increased by 5.8% and purchases in artisan and merchant shops are up by 7.9% in 2021.
< p>“We saw the first signs of a slowdown in organic consumption at the end of 2019. For four or five years, the growth in sales of organic products was 20 points higher than that of non-organic products. And then the gap started to close. The curves crossed at the start of 2021, and since then the gap has widened”, deciphers with our colleagues Emily Mayer, director at the IRI institute. This trend continues this year with a further decline in the market of 6.6% in the first quarter of 2022.
Several aggravating factors
To explain this phenomenon, several factors are to be take into account and, in the first place, that of inflation. “Customers make trade-offs. These products are impacted by the decline in purchasing power like all valued products, such as national brands, “says a source from Système U. For her part, Emily Meyer also believes that the French now favor local products more to the detriment organic, when they seek to enhance the quality of their meals.
The market has also seen its habits turned upside down by the health crisis. “Certain profound changes such as the rise of food e-commerce are unfavorable to us”, underlines Sylvain Ferry, CEO of Biocoop. After booming for the past decade, the organic market may be about to experience several tumultuous years.
