Germany: New study on imports of organic products

Since 2009/2010, the import volumes to Germany have increased for many arable crops and dairy products. However, imported quantities vary from year to year for fruit, vegetables and potatoes, depending on the foreign and domestic harvest. For eggs and meat imports have decreased compared with 2009/2010.

Organic wheat: Share of organic imports to Germany by country. Source: Agrarmarkt-Informationsgesellschaft (AMI)

These are the results of the market study "Imports of organic products in Germany 2012/13" led by the agricultural market information service (AMI) and funded by the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture. For this study, AMI surveyed importers and individual enterprises. Furthermore, it analyzed foreign trade data from foreign trade statistics and the GfK household panel for fruit, vegetables, potatoes and eggs. It also considered production development in the relevant countries of origin and merged all available information into an overall picture.

The import volume of organic cereals has increased from 114,000 metric tons in 2009/10 to 156,000 metric tons in 2012/13, constituting 17% of the organic grain quantity. Romania, Ukraine and Hungary were the main suppliers. The increase in pig and poultry resulted in higher demand for protein, and the imports of feed peas increased to 16,400 metric tons and those of soya beans to 35,900 metric tons. The share of domestically produced eggs increased to 90 percent and that of pork to 83 percent.

Source: AMI

More information

Contact: Diana Schaack, AMI

AMI-informiert.de:Importangebot von Bio-Produkten in Deutschland