As supermarkets enter the fray, the battle for the organic dollar is hotting up. But do organics really have an edge, asks Veronica Ridge?
Organics is now the world's fastest-growing food sector. Having shaken off the whiff of hippiedom, the mainstream organic movement is fast gaining converts, and retailers - including Australia's two supermarket giants - are scrambling over each other in the battle for the organic dollar.
Annual retail sales of organic food nationally have been estimated at $500 million in the current financial year, more than double five years ago. At 0.3 per cent of Australia's total food consumption, organics are still a very small player. In parts of Europe, the figure is 10 times as high. But the Australian market is expected to escalate by up to 40 per cent in the coming year - and to keep growing.
This is despite the relatively high price of organic foods, generally anything from 15 per cent to up to three times more than their conventional equivalent.
