Ekomat loses sales - locally grown more important for consumers

The food industry's industry assessors do not believe in any expectation that it will increase in 2021.

Charlotta Sczcepanowski, quality and sustainability manager at Coop Sweden, says that organic sales have increased in volume but the share in total sales has decreased.

- We see that our customers are more interested in sustainability issues.

Many believe that the climate threat outweighs and prefer locally grown and vegetarian instead of organic meat, says Charlotta Sczcepanowski to SVT News.

Origin and locally grown more important after the pandemic

Axfood, which is the group behind Willys and Hemköp, among others, also sees in its sales statistics that many choose origin and locally grown food over organic products. 

- Most eco-products are also slightly more expensive than their conventional counterparts, which also affects because there is a large price focus, says Magnus Törnblom, press manager at Axfood to SVT News.

Coop Sweden invests heavily in sustainability declarations where customers can see different perspectives on how a product affects areas within climate, environment and society.

The pandemic has also affected what we buy for food.

- At the beginning of the pandemic, we talked so much about self-sufficiency that many chose products that came from Sweden.

We also cook more food at home makes us feel a more genuine interest in the food and want to know where the food comes from, says Charlotta Sczcepanowski at Coop Sweden.

Shrinking ad space

As SVT Nyheter reported in early July, the food industry won during the pandemic. 

Another explanation for the reduced interest in organic products is given by Olle Ryegård, responsible publisher of the magazine ekoweb, which has been monitoring organic food for 20 years.

He believes that the stores do not provide the same advertising space for organic goods.

- We have read statistics from matpriskollen.se and we see that the large food groups are doing fewer and fewer campaigns on organic foods.

They no longer drive the sale of the eco-machine, says Olle Ryegård.

In other countries such as Denmark, France, Germany, the USA and India, sales of organic food increased. A "corona boost" has also been seen and more people have chosen organic goods during the pandemic. But in Sweden, customers prefer local produce.