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Denmark has world’s biggest appetite for organic food

Ritzau/The Local
Ritzau/The Local - [email protected]
Denmark has world’s biggest appetite for organic food
Photo: Ida Guldbæk Arentsen/Ritzau Scanpix

Organic goods were more likely to fill shopping baskets in Denmark in 2018 than anywhere else in the world, a new report has found.

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The international report “The World of Organic Agriculture”, conducted by the Danish Agriculture & Food Council (Landbrug & Fødevarer), found Denmark to be first out of 180 countries on organic food use.

The report compares the consumption of organic foods in 180 countries and was scheduled to be presented on Wednesday at BioFach, the world's largest organic fair.

The report's section on Denmark notes that 11.5 percent of retail sales in 2018 were organic products, an increase from the previous year’s figure of 10.5 percent.

Additionally, raw spending on organic has increased in Denmark, bringing the country closer to Switzerland, which has the biggest outlay on organic products. Since goods generally cost more in Switzerland, the same spending levels do not constitute the same market share.

READ ALSO: Does 'world's fifth-most expensive country' Denmark deserve its costly reputation?

The report finds that every Swiss and Danish consumer spent around 2,325 kroner on organic products in 2018.

The amount is equivalent to around 9.9 percent of Switzerland's retail sales.

Although individual Danish and Swiss consumers spend the most on organic, the two relatively small countries are far from the largest market.

In Denmark, organic products had a turnover of 12.9 billion kroner, according to Statistics Denmark data.

By comparison, the report shows that organic products in the United States had a turnover of $303 billion, making the US by far the largest market in the world for organic.

In total, $725 billion-worth of organic goods were sold globally in 2018, a five percent increase from the previous year.

Denmark’s government aims to double sales of organic products over the next five years and reach a turnover of 26 billion kroner.

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