India's organic foods market growing at over 20%

PTI Aug 23, 2012, 03.19PM IST

NEW DELHI: The market for Organic food products in India is growing at 20-22 per cent a year, a top official from private sector Yes Bank said.

"The market for organic foods is growing at an compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20-22 per cent," Yes Bank's Country Head, Food and Agribusiness, Girish Aivalli told PTI.

With rising spending power of the growing middle class in the country and increased awareness towards chemical free food, organic and natural products sector will grow significantly in the coming years, he added.

Yes Bank also released a report, 'Indian Organic Foods Market' at one-day conference, Jaivik India, on proliferation of organic and natural products in the Indian market.

The report said the global organic food and beverages market is expected to grow from USD 57.2 billion in 2010 to USD 104.5 billion by 2015 with a CAGR of 12.8 per cent.

Europe contributed to the largest share of the organic foods market in 2010 with revenue of USD 27.8 billion, the report added.

The Asia-Pacific organic food market had a total revenue of USD 3.5 billion in 2010 and had a CAGR of 16.2 per cent between 2006-2010, it said.

On India, the report said that the market for organic food including exports is currently valued at Rs 1,000 crore.

The report added that the country produced around 3.88 million tonnes of certified organic products, that includes basmati, pulses, tea, coffee, spices and oilseeds.

Organic foods industry presently is metro-based, with about 95 per cent of the brands existing in top 10 metros like Delhi (NCR), Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Bengaluru and other tier II cities, it said.

According to government data, area under organic farming had risen to 1.08 million hectares. In addition, 3.40 million hectares is wild forest harvest collection area.

The states doing well in organic farming are Madhya Pradesh (4.40 lakh hectares), Maharashtra (1.50 lakh hectares) and Orissa (95,000 hectares), the data added.

Among crops cotton is the single largest crop accounting for nearly 40 per cent of total area followed by rice, pulses, oilseeds and spices. India is the largest organic cotton grower in world, and accounts for 50 per cent share of total world organic cotton production, it said.

SOURCE: http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2012-08-23/news/33342399_1_organic-food-organic-cotton-chemical-free-food