Retail sales of organic food and beverages in European countries have enjoyed substantial growth over the past ten years. Sales growth in some countries has been as high as 85%. However, as a percent of overall food market shares organic products continue to be a small percentage of the total. The UK, Switzerland and Denmark lead in terms of percentages of organic vegetables consumed. Most consumers appear willing to pay a price premium of up to 20%. One of the significant problems in analyzing organic markets is the lack of reliable, verifiable data, both in production, prices and imports. Organic import data is not broken out separately, so the real levels of imports are really estimates. Europe cannot be analyzed as a single entity, as each country appears to be behaving differently with regard to organic policy, internal production, consumption and imports. While distribution channels vary, supermarkets are expanding their role. Although production in Europe is expanding, there is frequently greater demand than supply, thus substantial opportunities for imports of fruits and vegetables, fresh and processed, particularly for counter-seasonal fresh products and non-temperate zone fruits and vegetables. In policy and operational terms it is important to have national organic legislation, access to certification services that are accepted in the importing countries, good knowledge of organic farming techniques, good post harvest handling, infrastructure and logistics and good partnerships.
