The market of Sustainable food
The Market of Sustainable Food
Scope of the market today and tomorrow
Total potential of the market
We define our market as being the revenue of ecological fruits and vegetables sales to consumers in Brussels. By "ecological" or "sustainable" fruits and vegetables, we mean products that are organic, local and/or seasonal.
The exact numbers for the revenue of durable fruit and vegetables are not available as such. So, to estimate our total market, we had to make some assumptions. We first look at the total expenses on organic fruits and vegetables. There are two different approaches for finding the total market of organic food.
The first approch: In Belgium, the average person spends 4,98 euros on organic vegetables and 3,74 euros on organic fruits per year. By multiplying these amounts by the population of Brussels, we can estimate that the 1,139 million citizens of Brussels spend almost 10 million euros on labeled organic fruits and vegetables.
The second approach: It would be to take the total expenses on fresh organic products for Brussels which accounted for about 45 Million euros in 2013. Then we need to take the proportion of organic vegetal products from this total amount which was 38% in 2013, as shown on the graph below. With this approach, the total expenses on organic fruits and vegetables in Brussels accounted for 17 million euros in 2013.
To be as accurate as possible, we will not choose one approach but take the mean of both. We have thus a total revenue of organic fruits and vegetables sales in Brussels of 13,5 Million euros.
To get the total amount of durable fruits and vegetables sales in Brussels, we shouldn’t limit ourselves to only organic products. As a matter of fact, the numbers of "organic" food found here above are only calculated for producers selling their product with an organic label. But, to put this label on your product, you must pay and small producers can’t (or sometimes don’t want to) afford it. Besides this, there are also fruits and vegetables that are produced with an “integrated” method. It’s a type of agriculture which is neither organic nor traditional. The producers using this kind of method apply many of the same concepts as organic food producers but they don’t limit themselves to the use of pesticides from natural sources. If it’s absolutely needed, they use also synthetic chemicals.
Due to the lack of precise numbers of the short circuit fruits and vegetables sales, we can only take the value of the organic market. The total market accounts thus for 13.5 Million euros, but we think that the market is actualy much larger than this, because non-labeled organic products as well as local and seasonal products where not taken into account.
The total market can thus be estimated to 13,5 Millions euros, but is probably much larger.
Our products satisfy the needs and wants of the market
A lot of people on this market give importance to the fact that the food was grown locally. At the same time the demand for organic products grew the last years. Almost nine out of ten people bought an organic product in 2013.
The problem today is that the Belgian producers of organic fruits and vegetables can't follow the demand and currently the major part of organic products needs to be imported. Sometimes, organic fruits and vegetables are even grown in countries which are further away from Belgium than the same kind of products produced with traditional agriculture. It absolutely doesn’t satisfy the needs and wants of the consumers to buy sustainable food and to be more ecofriendly.
Our product could contribute to filling the gap between the supply and demand of local and, at the same time, healthy food. One can say that our product satisfies that wants and needs of the consumers.
Our product could contribute to filling the gap between the supply and demand of local and, at the same time, healthy food.
Potential growth of the general market
The numbers here above used to calculate our market are the numbers for 2013. They increased last year and will certainly increase during the forcomming years. Several factors explain the growing potential of this market.
Firstly, the forecast of DGSIE (Direction Générale Statistique et Information économique) claims that the population will increase in Belgium and the most in the Brussels-Capital Region. They predict a population growth of about 35% in Brussels-Capital Region from 2010-2060 whereas 25% in the whole country and from 2015-2025 there will be a population growth of almost 10.000 people every year.
Furthermore, consumer awareness for healthy food and the environment rises. On the one hand, the fruits and vegetables consumption grows every year. On the other hand, the consumption of sustainable food is growing (by 8% between 2012 and 2013). In consequence, organic food sales increases continuously in the whole county, but the growth is the sharpest in Brussels. The increasing sales are directly linked to a higher shopping frequency in organic food shops and a rise of the average amount a consumer spends in these specific shops. During the past five years (from 2008 to 2013) the expenses on organic food has doubled in Brussels.
On this graph, you can find the total consumption of Belgian households of organic food in million euros. The percent above the brackets represent the yearly growth of organic food consumption. The numbers in brackets are the growth of organic food consumption in the total consumption of food.
