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Organic Food Market Continues to Grow

Organic retail food sales in Ontario continues to grow. Sales were estimated by Nielsen to have grown 17% in 2007 (compared to 2006) for products sold in grocery+drug+mass merchandiser stores. Total sales for Ontario (in these stores) were $237M (compared to $654M nationally. This was slightly lower than the reported growth in Canada (20%) for 2007 and the 24% growth reported for Ontario in 2006 in grocery stores. Growth in non-organic food categories was reported to be 4% in 2007. Note this study did not include organic food sales at other channels such health food stores, institutional, food service, farmers markets and direct customer sales which in a 2007 study totalled almost 50% of the total market.

Fresh fruits and vegetables make up almost 40% of sales. Vegetables showed growth of growth of 25% and 14% for fruit. One of the fastest growing sectors of vegetables is bagged salads and bagged broadleaf vegetables (almost all imported). Dairy products increased to 27% of the total sales and showed 16% growth in 2007.

July Issue Index