An overview on the supply chain for European organic food market

• Author: Dovleac L.
• Pages: 325-330

Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov

Series V: Economic Sciences • Vol. 9 (58) No. 2 - 2016

An overview on the supply chain for European

organic food market

Lavinia DOVLEAC1

Abstract: European organic food market is very dynamic both due to the consumers’

preferences and requests and due to the supply chain members who focus more and more on

satisfying the market needs. Organic food has emerged as an important segment of food

retailing in recent years. The supply chain management for organic food was first based on

the conventional methods, but the products’ particular characteristics determined some

specific changes. This paper aims to evaluate the supply chain challenges on the European

and Romanian organic food market, trying to offer some solutions for the sector’ sustainable

development.

Key-words: organic food, supply chain, distribution channel, Europe

1. Introduction

Europe has the second largest market for organic food and drink, after North

America (FIBL&IFOAM, 2016). The organic food market has not reached its

maturity, yet. It is growing and its development shows substantial opportunities.

According to the latest data provided by the Research Institute of Organic

Agriculture (FiBL), in 2014 European consumers spent about 23.9 billion euros for

organic food (Willer, 2016). The analysts predict that the organic food and

beverages market in Europe could grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR)

of around 7% in terms of revenue by 2020 (Technavio, 2016).

The most important reasons to use organic products are: human health and

environmental sustainability, in terms of food safety, agricultural practices, pesticide

free crops, and animal welfare (Cavaliere et al, 2016). An increasing number of

organic brands, certification labels and wider range of organic product categories

have been observed in terms of efforts to provide higher food safety and food quality

(Hamzaoui-Essoussi and Zahaf, 2012).

The main barrier against the use of such products is related to the problem of

trust since consumers are not able to verify if a product is actually produced

1 Transilvania University of Braşov, Faculty of Economic Sciences and Business Administration,

lavinia.dovleac@unitbv.ro