Released today (21 February), Soil Association Certification’s Organic Market Report 2023 reveals the UK’s organic market is now worth a record £3.1 billion driven by 1.6% growth in sales in 2022, with shoppers spending almost £8.5 million on organic products every day in the UK.
The organic market has enjoyed its 11th year of positive growth despite the cost of living crisis, record inflation, heightened levels of uncertainty arising from the Russian invasion of Ukraine together with its impact on world food markets and energy prices, and the on-going challenges thrown up by Brexit.
Soil Association Certification Commercial Director Alex Cullen said: “With sales exceeding £3.1 billion we have seen a transformation in the organic food and drink market since the pandemic with a phenomenal 25.4% growth in just three years. Despite the economic turmoil and significant challenges everyone faced in 2022 the organic market delivered a strong and resilient performance growing a respectable 1.6%.
“In these challenging conditions organic foodservice delivered a stellar performance growing 152% and helping to drive this uplift while organic food and drink sales in supermarkets, independent retailers and home delivery had mixed fortunes with shoppers forced to make hard decisions on their weekly shop as they faced the cost of living crisis.
“Today eight out of ten supermarket shoppers buy organic and many are cutting their spend or switching to conventional products because of price pressures*. But crises don’t last forever. Inflation will come down and shopper confidence will return. In organic there is an amazing momentum building with the potential for strong future growth captalising on the high levels of consumer trust and confidence it holds by meeting their needs for sustainable and healthy food. The more economies of scale we can build across the organic sector the more we can bring down prices and make high quality, healthy organic food accessible for all.”