Ventas de alimentos orgánicos crecieron 10% en 2010 en relación con el año anterior

Sales of organic food in France rose 10 percent in 2010 to reach more than 3.3 billion euros ($4.6 billion), although fewer French people said they ate them regularly, the organic lobby group “Agence Bio” said. This apparent contradiction could be due chiefly to a rise in the amount that each consumer of organic food buys, Elisabeth Mercier, director of Agence Bio, told reporters on Thursday. “Once you eat organic food you tend to buy more,” she said. Mercier said people often entered the organic market when having a baby or for children’s food, with milk being one of the products that drew in new consumers. Organic fluids led the 2010 rise with a jump of 26 percent in sales, mainly boosted by organic juices sold in supermarkets.

Sales of organic fruit and vegetable, the most popular items among French organic food consumers, rose nearly 10 percent in 2010. But a CSA survey commissioned by Agence Bio showed the proportion of people who said they ate organic food at least once a month fell to 43 percent from 46 percent in 2009. The survey, of a representative sample of 1,028 people, was conducted between October 26 and November 3, 2010. The number of farmers turning to organic agriculture continued to grow, showing a jump of 25 percent in 2010 and bringing the rise to more than 50 percent over two years.The area devoted to organic farming was provisionally forecast at 2.9 percent of the of total arable land in France in 2010, against 2.6 percent in 2009, Mercier said. That was still far from France’s targets, set in 2007, for organic land account for 6 percent of total arable land by 2012. Organic wine was developing fast with a growth in area pegged at 30 percent in 2010 and a doubling seen by 2012. “Wine-growing is the sector where the rhythm of engagement is the highest,” Mercier said.

Agence Bio stressed that most of its estimates were provisional and would need to be confirmed in March.

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