We have seen an acceleration, albeit not continuous, in the consumption of organic food. During the pandemic, this was more intense, many people were scared and saw organic as a way to protect themselves, so much so that the market grew by 31% during this period. However, the survey we delivered in June this year revealed a 16% increase in the number of consumers. There are many reasons for this: many people have gone back to working in person, have stopped cooking at home, and that’s where organic food has also grown a lot. We’ve also noticed that the number of producers has fallen a little, but organic production has grown. New players entering the market.
This is positive because it signals that we have capacity and resilience and thus increases investment interest in Brazil. The production chain is being restructured, with new players and many products from small, medium and large brands, semi-industrialized and industrialized. When I talk about a product, I don’t separate the contents from the packaging or the brand. From the consumer’s point of view, it’s a unique experience.
Organic products are still considered expensive by people who don’t see the value. She can afford organic, but it’s not worth it to her. This has improved a lot, especially since the pandemic. It can also be considered an expensive product for consumers who are unable to choose. So it’s this democratization that’s missing so that more consumers have access to organic products.
How are we going to achieve this? Well, increasing the income of this population and increasing the profitability, productivity of organic products, gaining scale so that this gap in consumption decreases, the difference between organic and conventional products decreases. The fact is that it does cost more! According to our research, organic consumers think it justifies its higher price. When the price goes over the top, it’s no longer justifiable. But we’ve managed to democratize organic a little. Compared to conventional food, organic food has inflated less. What still needs to be improved is distribution. Every two years that our research has been carried out, it has shown that it is less difficult to find organic produce.
But little by little this movement in the market, not only by Organis, but also by fairs aimed at the food and drink chain, has helped to boost consumption. In this sense, the partnership with Anuga Brazil, especially in this year’s edition, showed a much better result than the first edition in which we took part. This confirms that there is an increasing demand for organic products. And at Anuga you have a multiplicity, a diversity of audiences that is very interesting. Students, food engineers, small to large shopkeepers, public policy makers and distributors. That’s why I believe that an event like this only tends to improve what our goal is, which is to provide information.
Cobi Cruz, Executive Director of Organis – Association for the Promotion of Organic Products
