Confinement has proven it: the French are still as greedy for organic products. If 2020 is not yet over, the growth in sales of these AB-labeled foods continued unabated last year. It jumped by almost 13.5% in 2019, to approach the 12 billion euros in turnover (11.9 billion) according to figures from the Agence Bio published on Thursday.
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The overall dynamics of the past few years have not changed. But it is accentuated in the large distribution, which took the turn more recently than the specialized signs. Large historical brands now account for more than half of sales (55%) of organic products, compared to 49% a year ago. The reason: consumers' confirmed appetite for this label, which encourages them to open their shelves larger. But also the desire to innovate on the part of manufacturers in this dynamic segment. For both national brand and private label manufacturers.
Supply explosion
Carrefour, Danone, Nestlé, Bel ... have all displayed great ambitions in this segment for the past two years. The first thus targets 5 billion euros in organic turnover within 2 years. " In all product categories, there is an organic reference where it remained a few years ago very concentrated on groceries and bakery, decrypts Philippe Henry, the president of the agency in charge of promoting the organic farming in France. Today we have an explosion of frozen foods, beer, dairy products, or even organic eggs which are the most consumed product in AB ”.
These efforts certainly often receive the best reception from consumers. But they put under tension certain sectors whose conversion rate is struggling to keep up with demand. Consequence: difficult to source organically in France for certain raw materials (fruit, pork ...). Today 30% of AB raw materials are imported.
Democratization of the concept
While specialized brands (Biocoop, Bio C'Bon, Naturalia, La Vie Claire ...) have seen their market share decrease in this segment, this preemption of a very dynamic market by historic brands has therefore been able to create tensions. In 2019, the latter recorded an 18% growth in organic, while that of specialized distribution did not exceed 7%. Among the best performing in these networks: Biocoop (+ 15% in 2019).
Certain purists in the sector, whether distributors or manufacturers, such as Biocoop or Jardin Bio, thus deplore the democratization of the label and a forced development unfavorable to the initial philosophy of the concept. " The specialized store model is still progressing just as much," says Agence Bio . Let's not forget that if it weren't for mass distribution, we wouldn't be there. You just have to be careful not to have the same power balance as conventional, to keep a sustainable model ”.
