Inflation: fewer and fewer organic products in the basket of the French

2023-06-01 18:04:47

With the general increase in prices, especially food, it seems to the French consumer more appropriate not to be choosy. In this case, a shopping basket, according to the latest figures communicated by the Organic Agency during a press conference on Thursday, includes fewer and fewer products from organic farming. A decline of 6.4% to 6% in 2022, which precisely illustrates the contraction in demand eroded by the decline in purchasing power.

200 organic stores have closed

The share of organic in purchases fell in a context of “unprecedented decline” in household food consumption at home (which itself fell by 5.1%). As a result, sales of organic products for home consumption, which represent 92% of outlets in the sector, in value fell by 4.6% last year, standing at 12 billion euros.

“The biggest drop affects the 3,000 organic stores, with a drop in attendance and nearly 200 closures,” said Laure Verdeau, director of the agency in charge of the development and promotion of this mode of agriculture. . Their sales fell by 8.6%, and those of large retailers by 4.6%. In 2021, sales of organic products intended for home consumption (supermarkets, farm sales, etc.) had already fallen by 1.4%, a first drop since 2010.

Conversely, the 26,000 organic farms, “which combine organic and local, are growing,” added Laure Verdeau, with sales up 3.9%. Sales of organic products for out-of-home consumption, for their part, increased by 17% in 2022, the first year of full activity recovery for restaurants after the Covid-19 pandemic.

The share of organic food remains stable in collective catering with 7% of purchases, still far from the 20% target set in 2018 in the Egalim law, and falls from 2% to 1% in commercial catering, for which ” everything remains to be done” according to Laure Verdeau. “The market is driven as much by supply in the fields as by demand on the plates,” she commented, stressing the “urgent” need to revive consumption.

To help organic farming get through this growth crisis, the Minister of Agriculture announced in mid-May a “crisis envelope” endowed with 60 million euros. By way of comparison, the organic share exceeds 10% in the shopping carts of other European countries such as Denmark or Austria, which have “very proactive” policies.