Tesco's organic food sales in the UK have increased by 15% in the last year, according to a statement by the British retailer.
It added that the organic foods sector in Britain is undergoing the largest growth in customer demand in the last ten years.
Fruit and vegetables have remained the most popular organic segment, with sales up 17%, but shoppers have also been looking for organic fish, dairy, fresh meat (with organic chicken, steak, lamb chop and egg sales increasing 13%) and general grocery items (with items such as olive oil, pasta and cooking sauces up 16%).
The organic representative for Tesco, Tina Moore, said, "Due to our long-term partnerships with suppliers and producers across the UK, we’ve been able to improve the quality, range, availability and price of our organic products for customers.
“We are seeing that shoppers are increasingly looking to buy organic food but it needs to be affordable and consistently high quality all year round for it to be considered a viable option."
Organic Trade Board
The Organic Trade Board in the UK, which aims to increase organic food sales in the country, will be partnering with Tesco to expand the organic market. The board recently received a share of £9 million in European Union funding to promote organic foods in Britain and Denmark.
This will be achieved by increasing the visibility of organic food, and by creating awareness campaigns to inform the public of the reasons to buy organic.
The two entities had partnered before on the 'Organic Unboxed' programme, which sent out a box of free ingredients to 7.5 million online customers, which included steps to prepare a meal with organic items.
Adrian Blackshaw, chair of the board, commented, "The organic market is in a clear growth phase in the UK. But there is much more we can do – there’s a huge opportunity for Tesco to attract new organic consumers and in doing so, add value to their business."
According to research by Italian dairy consulting firm CLAL.it based on Rabobank data, the market for organic products in Europe and the US is expected to grow until 2025 at a compound annual growth rate of between 6.7% and 7.6%.
© 2017 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Karen Henderson. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
