As food prices increase, organic foods, and fresh fruit and vegetables, could be particularly affected by lower sales, a leading vegetable breeder has warned.
Nasir Ahmed, consumer & customer manager for BASF and Nunhems cites data from DVJ Insights and Kantar which underline the impact of higher food prices on consumers. The DVJ study looked at five countries across Europe, and discovered that consumers in the UK, Germany and Denmark were particularly engaged with rising food prices, with those in the UK focusing on cutting expenses and worrying about further impacts on their lives following Brexit and the Covid pandemic.
According to the study UK consumers consider daily groceries as one of the most important categories for saving money, but also the one where it is most difficult to save, instead often cutting spending in other areas such as social activities, clothing and holidays.
Nasir thinks that this could result in a fall in the sales of organic products as consumers try to save money. After the last recession in 2008 organic food and drink sales slumped, taking nine years to recover to their previous peak. In France organic production has plummeted over the last two years, but Nasir adds, “Organic buyers are often very motivated consumers [so] the impact of the economic situation on purchase may be limited. However, in France, this is not now the case [and] we should expect the economic situation to reduce purchase of organic vegetables.”