The market for organic produce is flourishing, as Bord Bia’s figures show. It appears that the Irish market for organic produce saw a record 17.7% growth in 2020, which translated to €235m in total sales. In Bord Bia’s sheepmeat and livestock sector manager Séamus Mc Menamin’s opinion, growth was driven by the pandemic.
Regarding organic imports, the country is over 95% self-sufficient in eggs, lamb, beef, dairy and seafood. Organic eggs and organic lamb account for 98% of the domestic supply share. But in the same year, Ireland was just 30% self-sufficient in fruit and vegetables.
Menamin said: “The main issue there is the seasonality and supply and the scale of produce to fulfil that. In terms of overall production, we are fairly well maxed out, the domestic market is currently meeting demand, so any growth will have to come from further demand and any extra production, we will therefore have to create a market for it.”
Trends in Irish retail sales showed that almost €221m was spent by Irish consumers on organic produce last year, making that 2.7% higher than that of 2020. “In terms of value to the sector it was an extra €6m made on retail sales in 2021 on the previous year.”
Bord Bia’s analysis is that the increased volume of people buying organic produce drove overall growth in retail sales, as opposed to the increase in price of organic produce.