Shortage of organic products in Holland would help non-transgenic exports from Brazil
The problem is that large food producers countries like Brazil haven’t prepared themselves to gain this share of Europe’s growing market for organic - or biologish, as is most popular in northern Europe.
The hoge soya beans market, for instance, has already been faced with a 10% plus on non-transgenic imports from South America. Brazilian producers still free of transgenic are organizind themselfs in coops and trade companies to deal with the incresing demand on this kind of commodity.
- It’s logic that is all biologic - stress organic cooker and artist in Rotterdam, Julio Hagen-Pimentel, from Brazil, while preparing another dinner party for Dutch people at an non-governamental organisation (ngo) connected with the biodynamic agriculture movement of Rudolph Steiner’s followers in Holland.
Today’s newspaper reports here that organic, biologic, biodynamic, or health food as it is said in California, will face price rising immediately if domestic producers do not respond to market needs in the Netherlands.
Supermarkets around Rotterdam, for instance, already face shortage of organic food, says the midia in headlines as this is a very popular item nowadays in this part of Europe.
Quoting the national retail board CBL, the Volkskrant (People’s Journal) reports today that Dutch supermarkets will be forced to import increasing amounts of organic food unless domestic production is expanded.
‘We would rather not import organic food because bringing it from across the globe is not environment-friendly and is more expensive,’ the CBL’s Marc Jansen told the paper.
At the same time however, some 60% of Dutch production of organic food is exported abroad, mainly to Denmark, Germany and Britain.
The CBL announced on Tuesday that it expects organic food sales to rise 15% this year to a record €530m. While volumes are increasing, the shortage of some products is also helping to push up prices.
Supermarkets want sales of organic food to grow twice as fast as the food sector as a whole, the CBL says. Organic food currently accounts for some 2% of supermarket sales with eggs, vegetables, fruit and meat accounting for 63% of the total.
‘The average family now eats organic food for the equivalent of one week a year,’ Jansen told the Volkskrant.
Despite growing demand from consumers, organic farming still only accounts for 2.4% of the total, despite government targets to boost this.
The government target is for 10% of farmland to be devoted to organic production by 2010. It also wants organic products to account for 5% of all spending on food.
(With © www.DutchNews.nl reporters).
