The eSpecial of Biofach and Vivaness was eagerly awaited. The annual international industry meeting in digital format? Some were sceptical, but many exhibitors from all over the world got involved in the digital adventure. At the closing press conference, Petra Wolf, Managing Director of NürnbergMesse, thanked them for their great solidarity, commitment and creativity. The interaction figures during the three days were impressive and one can definitely say that the eSpecial - with some potential for technical optimisation - was a successful and very international event. By the way, the only option in pandemic times. The conference and presentations provided important industry data, information on relevant developments and trends as well as a platform for discussion and exchange. An overview.
One of the important Update for the global Organic World at the eSpecial conferences
Figures on the event
The success of the event was expressed somewhat differently this year - but was no less impressive: the 775 sessions during the three days of the fair were attended by 13,800 registered participants from 136 countries. The networking was also remarkable. Trade visitors exchanged information with the 1,442 exhibitors, also from all over the world, in over 400,000 chat messages and more than 10,000 video meetings. Rooms reach their limits when an event attracts too many visitors - the net offers almost unlimited possibilities here: For example, 700 participants listened to the analysis "The German Organic Market". The figures on the market were also really impressive! Later more.
The global organic markets, left side: retail turnover by countries (2019) and graphics. On the right side: situation of sales in the biggest markets USA, EU 28, China, Switzerland and others. Source FiBL statistics.
The international organic movement is growing: €106 billion sales 2019
As every year, the figures on the worldwide growth of organic areas and markets were also presented. The global figures collected by the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL) (www.organic-world.net/yearbook/yearbook-2021.html) refer to the year 2019. Here, too, there continues to be a pleasing, albeit slightly weaker, growth in areas. According to "The World of Organic Agriculture", an additional 1.1 million hectares of land were cultivated organically worldwide in 2019 and the total area increased to 72.3 million hectares of organically cultivated land. Global sales of organic products amount to around €106 billion (2019).
Land in the EU reached 16.5 million hectares and organic food sales were around €45 billion (2019). In terms of organic sales (EH), Germany is in second place in the global ranking in 2019, behind the USA and ahead of France.
A ranking of market participation of the general food markets in Europe (2019). Denmark, Switzerland and Austria on top.
German market with historic growth in 2020 to almost 15bn euros.
The latest data from the German organic market are quite fantastic. Last year, German consumers spent 2.73 billion euros more on organic food than in 2019, an overall growth in organic sales across all distribution channels of 22.3% to 14.99 billion euros! According to the statstics of the Arbeitskreis Biomarkt and AMI, conventional food retailers (including drugstores) increased their market share by 22% (€1.63 billion) to €9.05 billion. The specialised organic food trade gained 16.4% to € 3.70 billion. The highest percentage growth rate (35%) was recorded by direct sales such as farmer´s markets, box stores, etc., and speciality shops such as bakers, butchers, which grew by 35% to € 2.24 billion. For the agricultural sector, an increase in organic areas to around 1.7 million hectares was recorded in Germany in 2020.
Very high growth rates (35%) in the speciality shops and farmers markets, 22% plus for chain food stores and also specialized organic shops with their 100% organic assortment grew a lot (16.5%).
German health food trade and the organic sector worldwide are winners of the crisis
Consumption benefited from the lockdowns and closed restaurants - people cooked at home and paid much more attention to organic quality when shopping. Market researchers Fabian Ganz, bioVista and Klaus Braun Kommunikationsservice provided a detailed insight into the individual product groups of the organic food trade. According to the experts, the specialised trade can also be described as a crisis winner. The strongest increases were recorded here with a 30.9% plus in March 2020, in April with 22.5% and in December with 19.1%. Customers bought less frequently, but more. Organic food is much more in demand than conventional produced one in many categories especially meat (chicken 73%, other meat 55%) flour53.5%, oils (32.4%) etc.. People spent more money for good healthy food and quality. As can be seen from the other statistics organic delights were not neglected at home either. Wine, chocolate and coffee sold well, but also products that are well suited for stockpiling or that belong in the basic assortment of the kitchen at home.
Consumption of organic food benefited more from the lockdowns than the conventional food retail.
Overall, turnover in the specialised trade has almost doubled in the past 10 years from 1.9 to 3.7 billion euros. The cumulative growth of the specialised retail trade from 2015 to 2020 is 37.6%, that of the natural food wholesale trade 52.2%, explained Klaus Braun.
Developments in Europe and worldwide
According to FiBL statistics the in almost all European countries organic farmland was growing in 2019, from 2010 to 2019 there is a growth from impressive 65%. In the ranking Spain has gained the first state with 2.4mn ha, followed by France, Italy and Germany.
FiBL graphics based on data of the year 2019.
Good performance of the organic market in France, UK and Italy
As reported by market experts of the different countries the three most important markets for organic food in Europe, behind Germany, all count a massive growth in 2020.
According to Agence Bio the French market reached almost 12.5bn € and doubled in the last five years.
United Kingdom - Growth in all segments
In the United Kingdom sales of organic food and non-food performed very well, too. The graphics shows the all over growth of 2.79bn GBP (3,2 bn €) in the different channels with the biggest plus for home delivery with 36.2% and organic beauty with 13%. Of course the supermarkets with food had the most benefit and increased their revenue from 1.6bn GBP (1.8bn €) to 1.8bn GBP ( 2bn €).
Italy: Leap in total Domestic Sales
The Italian organic food sales increased to total domestic sales of 4.4bn € and export of 2.6bn € in 2020 (estimated by Nomisma/ AssoBio).
Trends and new products
From a total of 500 new products submitted, the trend juries for Biofach and Vivaness filtered out the trends for the two sectors, food and cosmetics. They were presented in online trend tours with interviews with manufacturers. For food, the experts had identified the following trends: "Plant-based products", "Sugar-reduced and sugar-free products", "Food with added benefits", "Sustainability and social responsibility" and "Healthy enjoyment".
At Vivaness, the trends were "Waterless Beauty", "Me Time & Comfort", "Safe Beauty" and "Circular Beauty". In addition, the participants of the eSpecial voted for their favourites, they were awarded the Best New Product Award.
Vivaness Best New Products Award in the eSpecial format. The winners are happy: Among others Newcomer "4 People who Care", "hello simple" and "Madara".
The BIOFACH / VIVANESS eSPECIAL remains available!
The platform will remain available for another six months (till August) as a source of information and with all videos from the live streams on demand, only the possibility of active communication has been switched off.
Biofach and Vivaness 2022 will be from 15 - 18 February 2022. New, from Tuesday to Friday.