France: Organic area and market continue to grow strongly

In the first six months of 2012 the organic area in France surpassed the one million hectare mark. The organic market is now at four billion Euros (2011).

These figures were recently released by the French Agency for organic food and farming, Agence Bio (www.agencebio.com). Thus, France shows a very dynamic development compared with that of many other European countries.

In 2011, 975’141 hectares were under organic agricultural manangement. This is an increase of 15.3 percent compared with 2010.

There are 23’135 organic farms (+12.3 percent) and 35’271 operators in total (+14 %).

The organic market grew by 11 percent and has reached the four billion Euro mark in 2011. Due to the increase of domestic production, the import rate is now at 32 percent, and thus lower than in 2010 (- 3 percent). Not only retailers are an important sales channel: The turnover (158 million Euros) of large kitchens and restaurants increased by 21 percent.

Further information

AgenceBio.com: Dossier de presse : La Bio, une alternative qui prend de l'ampleur http://www.agencebio.com/actualites.asp?FK_categorie=1&pk_actualite=147&n1=3