Organic food sales continue growing strongly in Sweden. During the first half of 2015, the increase has been of around 50 percent in some supermarket chains.
Following the 38% growth registered last year, according to statistics from Ekoweb, many believed that the growth rate in 2015 would be slightly lower, but the actual increase for the first half of the year, compared with the same period of 2014, has been of 58 percent at Ica, 48 percent at Axfood and 18.9 percent at Coop, as reported by DN.
"Sales are fiercely increasing and it is clear that organic food is something that customers want," said Maria Smith, Head of Environment and Social Responsibility at ICA.
Organic products now account for 4.7 percent of the company's product range, which is less than Coop's 8.9 percent. Meanwhile, at Axfood, the percentage of organic products now amounts to 6 percent.
"We have tried making an effort to reduce the price gap between organic and conventional products," said Thomas Evertsson, President of discounter Willys.
Erik Johansson is a store manager at Hemköp Telefonplan, in Stockholm, where around 10 percent of the goods sold are organic. The share has increased in recent years.
"Two years ago, demand exploded. Organic fruit and vegetables have been the engine, but demand has spread to many more products," says Erik Johansson.
"Five years ago, organic goods accumulated dust on the shelves," says Erik Johansson. "Today the situation has reversed. We currently try to have organic options on everything, from jams to vegetables. It is something that our customers expect," he affirms.
The only cause of concern is that demand is so great that production cannot keep up. Even today, sales should be even higher.
"It is still the case that availability limits us in some categories; it is difficult to get hold of organic products," explains Maria Smith.
Erik Johansson also believes that it is important for suppliers to strive to match today's growing demand.
Source: dn.se
