According to the Association for Consumer Research (GfK), the demand for organically cultivated food rose significantly more strongly during the first three months of the coronavirus crisis compared with other sectors in the food industry.
With plans already underway for ISM 2021, Europe’s largest sweets and snacks fair, held in Cologne in February, organizers said latest market developments will be reflected with a healthy number of exhibitors from the organic sector.
Whereas in 2017 only 282 exhibitors with organic products were represented, at the 50th edition of ISM in 2020, ISM said it set a new record with 425 companies that presented numerous organic products.
The rise in organic at ISM represents a growth rate of 34% for the period between 2017 and 2020. Based on previous experiences, this figure will more than double in therun up to the 2021 event, the organizers, Koelnmesse, said.
But regardless of the COVID-19 pandemic, the organic market continues to grow. ISM released figures that according to the Research Institute for Organic Farming (FiBL) and the Agricultural Market Information Association (AMI), the expenditure of private households on organic products has more than doubled since 2010.
In 2018, organic foodstuffs to the value of €40.7bn ($48.19bn) were sold throughout Europe, €37.4bn of which in the European Union.