Sales of organic olive oil are increasing in the United States. Instead, total extra virgin olive oil sales have declined slightly, according to industry data shared with Olive Oil Times by the North American Olive Oil Association (NAOOA).
Sales of organic olive oil by volume, 98 percent of which is extra virgin, increased 7.2 percent in the 52 weeks ending April 24, 2024. By contrast, total olive oil sales Extra virgin by volume fell two percent over the same period in the world’s second largest olive oil consuming country.
I think a lot of people are realizing that eating organic produce has many health benefits.– Stefanie Wickensheimer, Project Manager, Rancho Río Bravo
Looking further back, in the previous 52-week period, sales of organic olive oil increased 2.7 percent, while total sales of extra virgin olive oil remained stable.
Outside the US, sales of organic olive oil are also expected to increase. According to a market study, the global organic olive oil market is projected to increase from $933 million in 2021 to $2.2 million in 2031, with an annual growth rate of almost nine percent.
See also:Organic food sales in Italy more than doubled in the last decade
The increase in sales of organic olive oil is part of a broader trend. In its Organic 2024 industry survey, the Organic Trade Association said sales of certified organic products grew to a record $69.7 billion in the U.S. in 2023, an increase of 3.4 percent over the year. former.
While Joseph R. Profaci, executive director of the NAOOA, warned that the data measured in dollars could be misleading if the figures are not adjusted for inflation, which was 3.4 percent annualized in the US in 2023, he was agree that organic olive oil consumption increases are part of a broader trend.
““Extra virgin olive oil is not alone among food categories in which organic sales currently outpace conventional sales in growth metrics,” he said. “Much of this is attributed to the perception that organic foods are healthier for you and better for the environment, which we know are both movements that continue to gain popularity in the US.
“This may be particularly applicable to olive oil because our buyer is typically more educated and affluent than the traditional buyer and therefore would probably be more inclined to be aware of these trends and be able to afford the premium paid for olive oil. organic. “Added Profaci.
Thierry Moyroud, CEO of Deoleo North America, attributed the increase in sales of organic olive oil to Walmart, the world’s largest retailer.
“The big winner of everything that happened in prices, beyond olive oil, with the inflation that we have witnessed in recent years has been Walmart,” he said. “Walmart has a larger share of olive oil sales than any other organic retailer. When Walmart sales grow, so do organic sales.”
Moyroud believes another factor behind the trend has been the bifurcation of the US olive oil market.
“What has happened here is a polarization due to prices,” he stated. “At the lower end of the spectrum, some households no longer buy olive oil” due to rising prices at source and the impact of inflation on other household staples.
“Organic olive oil, which is usually more expensive, is bought by people with greater purchasing power. Even if prices rise, they are unlikely to stop buying it,” Moyroud added. ““Households that buy organic products are less price sensitive.”
While imports account for about 97 percent of olive oil consumption in the United States, organic olive oil production is increasingly popular in California. However, not all Golden State organic growers and processors have seen the broader national trend in their sales.
Still, Stefanie Wickensheimer, executive assistant and project manager at Rancho Rio Bravo, has noticed increased demand for organic olive oil.
“We get a few customers who specifically ask if it’s organic. I think a lot of people are realizing that eating organic produce has a lot of health benefits,” she said. “No pesticides are used in cultivation, resulting in a safer product all around.”
However, Phil Asquith, the owner of Ojai Olive Oil, has seen the opposite trend.
“If anything, people’s interest in organic seems to have stabilized or even decreased,” he said. ““People choose based on which olive oils they like more than which ones are certified.”
Asquith said many of his customers and other olive oil consumers he knows are more concerned about quality and provenance than organic certifications.
“They are more concerned that the oil is local, high quality and from a company they trust,” he said. “All of our oils are organic, but not all are certified and labeled as such. Certification standards and costs have become a huge burden, so we only certify certain products, even though all would qualify.”
