The organic fruit and vegetable market - Italy

1.2 A Global Market in full Expansion

The Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (***). This study provides an overview of the global organic agriculture market, in which fruit and vegetables play an important role. 

In ****, the global organic farming market was worth ** billion euros, with an average annual growth rate (***).

Main organic farming markets by value of sales World, ...

1.3 An Italian Market which Does Not Disappoint

The most recent data show that Italian organic farming has a very important position in the European Union, both in terms of number of companies and of surface area, and the evolution of size indicators over time also show the growing interest of operators and the market in this production method, ...

1.4 Imports and Exports

Imports  

The following graph shows the Imports volume of fruits and vegetables in **** and ****. As we can see, the volume of fruit imports is more than double the size of the vegetables', although it suffered a slight decrease in ****. 

Imports volume of fruits and vegetables Italy, ****-****, in thousands of tonnes Source: ...

1.5 COVID-19 Impact

The COVID-** pandemic has had devastating effects on many markets and industries. Due to the nature of the virus (***) sanitary measures were put in place, the most significant of which were mandatory, government-mandated closures that kept people home and halted the most economic activity. Italy, being the first European country affected ...

2.1 Demand Characteristics

Italy is one of the countries where the propensity to consume organic fruit and vegetables is highest, compared to other European countries. In fact, **% consume at least one portion of fruit or vegetables a day, and in ****, according to Nomisma's calculations, the annual per capita consumption of fresh fruit and vegetables ...

2.2 Consumer Profile and Habits

A report published by Nomisma shows the results of the survey, which allows us to define a consumer profile and its consumption habits. 

According to the survey, **% of buyers are university graduates and **% are under ** years old. Regarding families, in the last year, * out of ** families have bought organic fruit and ...

2.3 Demand Drivers

The yearly report published by Italiani Coop synthesizes Italians' priorities for ****. These main trends represent huge drivers for the characteristics that consumers typically attribute to bioproducts: health, sustainability, and focus on the territory (***) were all trends underlined in the previews section. 

Local products

According to the survey, more than **% of the ...

2.4 New Trends of the Industry

The regenerative trend

The conversation is expanding as producers adopt and brands demand regenerative agriculture practices, those which “regenerate” soil that has been stripped of its nutrients and biodiversity by synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides. The marketplace hasn’t yet caught up with the regenerative movement, but such movements do take ...

3.1 Structure and Dynamics of the Market

The organic production system is the most modern one in the Italian agri-food sector.

It employs more than ***,*** people in farms, processing and distribution companies, control activities, technical assistance and the rest of the complementary industries.

In **.*% of Italian municipalities, there is at least one organic farm, with a higher concentration ...

3.2 Value Chain

Source: ****

3.3 Geographical Distribution of the Organic Areas in Italy

As the graph below and the annexed table show, the greatest portions of organic arable land in Italy are concentrated in the south of the country, more specifically in Sicilia, Puglia and Calabria. For organic fruit and vegetables in particular, Puglia presents the greatest portion of arable organic areas with, respectively, ...

3.4 Distribution

For what concerns the distribution channels of Italian organic fruits and vegetables, two m ain trend are worth noticing: the surge in popularity of the online channel due to the COVID-** pandemic and the related restrictions put in place by the government and the primacy of the GDO distribution channel accompanied, ...

3.5 Top Players of the Organic Agriculture in Italy

The first Pambianco study on the turnover of the leading Italian companies in the processing of organic farming products highlighted the following ranking (***):

Rigoni di Asiago Alce Nero Brio Damiano Natura Nuova

The graph below shows the turnover of these leaders of the sector. Most of these companies are not specialized ...

4.1 Typology of the Offer

In Italy, as in the rest of the world, the offer of organic fruit and vegetables is extremely varied and comprehensive. It is thus difficult to present an exhaustive description of the typology of the offer of this market.

Nonetheless, Ismea, provides some useful information about the typology of the offer ...

4.2 Pricing

Analyzing the comparison of a basket of reference organic products over a five-years period, we can confirm that the prices of organic products are on average **% higher than those of conventional equivalents. In the fruits and vegetables sector, the gap is narrower, in contrast to cereals and other grain crops whose ...

4.3 Geographical Distribution of the Offer

Once again and inevitably so considering the predominance of Sicilia, Puglia and Calabria for what concerns arable organic areas, most Italian organic operators are concentrated in these three regions with **.*** operators in Sicilia, **.*** operators in Calabria and **** opeators in Puglia.

Geographical Distribution of Organic Operators

Italy, ****, in number of organic ...

4.4 Profile of Italian Organic Operators

**.*% of Italian organic farm managers have a university degree or diploma (***), and **.*% have a high school diploma, almost double the average.

Organic farm managers not only have a higher education, but are also younger than traditional farms operators: **% of farm managers are between ** and ** years old (***), only **.*% of organic farmers are ...

4.5 The Biodistricts

In recent years, a growing number of Italian rural areas have spontaneously organized themselves into organic districts, a form of territorial aggregation that was first experimented with by AIAB in ****, and has been expanding in Italy in a way that has no equals in Europe or in the world, where similar ...

5.1 The Italian Regulation

The Minister for Agriculture, Stefano Patuanelli, is pushing for the process of approving the law on “organic” to continue in Italy. The bill's guidelines, presented to the Senate's Agriculture Committee, focus on more sustainable systems and on the centrality of the ecological transition of Italian agrifood policies, with the aim of ...

5.2 The European Regulation

The EU Regulation on Organic Production and Labeling of Organic Products ensures that the same high-quality standards are met throughout Europe. The rules relate to farming and aquaculture practices, food processing and labeling, certification procedures for farmers, and importing organic products that come from outside the EU.

EU farmers who produce ...

5.3 Next step in the Regulation

MEPs approved in April **** the amendment of the regulation on organic production and labeling of organic products. In October ****, the Parliament approved the postponement of the application of the new regulation by one year, which will then be scheduled for January *, ****. The decision was made to help agricultural entrepreneurs and local ...

6.1 Segmentation

• Rigoni di Asiago
• Alce Nero
• Brio S.p.A
• Natura Nuova
• Cortobio
• Almaverde Bio
• Natura Iblea
• Paniere Bio