Spain: Spaniards' spending on organic products increased by 7% in 2020
The Ministry of Agriculture presented its analysis on organic production in 2020, showing how the sector continues its intense growth process and is configured as an important area of differentiated consumption within the Spanish food system.
Spanish consumer spending on organic products reached €2.5 billion in 2020, an increase of 7% compared to the previous year. Spending on organic food as a percentage of total food expenditure in 2020 stood at 2.48%, indicating a growth of 10.3% compared to 2029. In 2020, expenditure per person per year reached 53.41 euros, 6.10% more than in the previous year.
The evolution of the consumption of organic products in recent years can be seen in Table 1.
Key data on organic production
The most consumed organic vegetable products in Spain were fresh fruits, with a share of 15.5% of the organic shopping basket. Fresh vegetables were in second place with 13.9%. This was followed by bread, biscuits and pastries, which together accounted for 6.6% of organic purchases; and oil and wine (4.4% and 2.2% respectively) (Table 2).
As for organic products of animal origin, the most consumed were meat and meat products (15% of the total organic basket), milk and dairy products (7.5%); fish, shellfish and canned products (4.2%) and eggs (2.2%) (Table 3).
Table 4 shows the structure of the organic and conventional shopping basket in 2020 (% in value).
According to the study data, Spain ranks ninth in the world market for organic products in terms of total value of organic sales.
Exports reached €1.2 billion, up 17% on 2019, while imports amounted to €1 billion, down 5.2% on the previous year.
The main organic products exported were fresh vegetables (25% of total vegetable exports); citrus fruits (19%), other fruits (11%), olive oil (15%), wine (7%), cereals and derivatives (6%) and canned vegetables (6%).
The registered organic area in 2020 reached 2.44 million hectares, 3.52% more than in 2019, and the qualified (registered and certified organic) area reached 2.09 million hectares. This means that the registered organic area in Spain reached almost 10% of the utilized agricultural area (UAA).
Of all organic land in Spain, 52% (1.27 million hectares) is grassland. This is followed by olive groves, cereals, nuts and vineyards.
The document points out that the estimated value at farm-gate of organic production exceeded €2.6 billion in 2020, 15.75% more than the previous year.
The study in Spanish can be downloaded via this link: https://bit.ly/3rJolOV