Sweden

Country

Sweden

Continent

Northern Europe

Market Performance

The Swedish market for organic food grew by just 4% to just over €2.80 Bn in 2018. Sweden has experienced significant growth in previous years but has significantly slowed, as retailers ICA, Coop and Axfood all experience reduced growth. Organic share of all food and drink was expected to exceed 10%, but reached 9.6% in 2018. 

Consumer Preferences & Channels

Supermarkets accounted for approx. 53% of the organic market share in 2012. Three biggest players , ICA, Axefoods and Coop continue to expand ranges. ICA’s organic sales grew at +44% in 2015 and Coops at 19%. More impressibe growth in 2015 still was seen by Lidl Sweden (60%) and ICA (47%).

Brand penetration remains poor in Swedish multiples, which continues to benefit own label growth.

KRAV reports that organic consumers in Sweden are predominantly female and certainly younger, with educational attainment being a strong determining factor. So called LOHAS account for 38% of the population.

Legislative Considerations

Under the control of EU regulation. Any food product sold as 'organic' falls under the EU regulations 834/2007 and 889/2008.

This means that the product must have been produced to these regulations and inspected and certified by a registered EU certification body.

Currently non-foods (e.g textiles and health & beauty products) are not covered by the scope of this regulation.

Events

Nordic Organic Food Fair - November 13th/14th 2019  -Malmo, Sweden Co-located with Natural Products Scandinavia, the Nordic Organic Food Fair (NOFF) provides the committed and focused environment to meet with buyers and sellers in this sector. Retailers, distributors and wholesalers from the Nordic region and around the world come to the NOFF to discover future best-sellers from the hundreds of new product launches. Find out more

Sources & Links to Further Info

The KRAV-label is the most well-known symbol in Sweden for organically produced food. Around 4 000 farmers and approximately 2000 companies in processing and trade are certified according to KRAV´s Standards. http://www.krav.se

The KRAV Market report can be obtained here http://arkiv.krav.se/mrapport/krav-market-report-2015.pdf

http://www.ekoweb.nu provides further coverage and insights around the Swedish organic market.

EkoWeb http://ekoweb.nu/?p=11507

Distributors of UK Organics:

Dagsmeja - www.dagsmeja.se

Gastronomi Leverantoren - www.gastronomileverantoren.se

BioFoods AB - www.biofood.se

Skotska - www.skotska.se