Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Countries/ Indicators
1995
2000
2004
2009
Growth rate (folds)
European Union
Organic area (ha)
1.407.850
3.944.953
4.792.381
8332166
5.2
Number of farms
59.752
138.919
139.046
209812
3.5
Turkey
Organic area (ha)
15.250
59.649
57.001
325.831
21.4
Number of farms
4.035
18.385
18.385
35.565
8.8
Source: [3, 13, 57].
Table 2.
Development of Organic Agriculture in EU and Turkey
4. Organic product market
Worldwide organic food market has been significantly increasing. It is related to the commer‐
cial certified organic agriculture which has spread to over 130 countries worldwide. Sustained
high rates of growth in sales of certified organic products in the U.S. and worldwide, averaging
20-25% in each year since 1990, have spurred concomitant growth and activities in production,
processing, research, regulation and trade agreements, and exports. The global organic
products market value in 2001 was estimated to be $20 billion, and the organic products share
of total food sales is near 2% in the US and 1-5% in EU countries. Processed organic products
have shown particularly rapid growth, often over 100% annually [30]. In 2002, the global
market for organic food and drink was valued at $23 billion. Although production of organic
crops is in creasing across the globe, sales are concentrated in the industrialised parts of the
world. North America and Western Europe comprise the bulk of global revenues, however
consumer interest is growing in other regions [39].
As an illustration of the growing international trade for organic food, its sale at retail level
showed 2.5 folds increase from 9.5 billion dollars in 1996. Organic food sales mainly increased
in Western countries, USA, Japan and Australia, 2.2, 2.3, 2.5 and 3 folds respectively, and 5.3
folds in other countries. These values show that demand for organic products has been
growing and strong [39].
The Western European market for organic food and drink was traditionally the largest (44.3%)
in the world, however it has now been overtaken by North America (37
.
1%). European sales
of organic products were estimated to have expanded by about 8 percent in 2002 to reach $
10.5 billion [19, 44].
Today, globally market for certified organic foods and drinks has also become fourfold larger
as compared to 1999 (15billion USD) which is more than 63 billion USD in 2011 and largest
market were USA 21 billion euros of organic food sales. In Europe largest market were also
Germany 6.6 billion euros and France 3.8 billion euros of organic food sales. Highest per capita
consumption was recorded in Switzerland (177 Euros) and Denmark (162 Euros). Denmark,
Switzerland and Austria had highest shares of organic food sales [16].
It is related that organic imports into European Union members states from the developing
world are growing rapidly. Certification regulations for the import of organic products are
