April 2002, 419 pages, 
EUR 2999,

European Sales of Organic Dairy Products Continue to Rise. 
Sales of organic dairy products expanded by 26 percent in Europe to top EUR 1.2 billion. Some countries reported sales growth of over 30 percent due to the BSE crisis elevating consumer demand for organic foods.

The highest growth was observed in Italy and Germany where the supermarkets have shown a greater interest in marketing organic foods in the last year. These two markets are projected to show the highest growth over the forecast period as retail penetration continues to increase. The slowest growth is to be in Scandinavian countries, especially in Denmark which has an organic dairy sector that is reaching maturity.

Denmark has the largest organic milk market in Europe with organic milk sales accounting for a third of all milk sales in the leading retailers. Market growth has slowed however due to product adoption reaching saturation. Sluggish growth rates are to cause the Danish market to be one of the smallest in Europe by the end of the forecast period.

The study predicts that healthy growth will continue in the coming years however the organic dairy industry faces many challenges. One of the most important challenges is to overcome supply-demand imbalances. Overproduction caused over half of the organic milk produced in Denmark and the UK to be sold as conventional milk in 2001, whilst many parts of southern Europe suffered from supply shortages.

Competition is also to become more intense as more country markets reach maturity. The market winners are likely to be large dairy groups that are able to achieve economies of scale in the production and marketing of organic dairy products. Large dairies already dominate the Scandinavian, French and Dutch markets and this trend is likely to spread to other European countries as market growth rates slow.

This report gives a detailed analysis of the organic dairy sector in seven European countries. Market & competitive information for organic milk, yoghurt, cheese, fresh cream and butter includes market size, growth forecasts, distribution structure, market trends, and  competitive analysis.

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