SWISS EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS IN ORGANIC CONSUMPTION AGAIN
Every Swiss person spends 102 EUR a year on organic food, closely followed by Denmark with 80 euros per head per year. Austria with 64 EUR is still ahead of Germany with 56 EUR, and the British (47 EUR), Swedes (42 EUR), Italians (32 EUR), Dutch (28 EUR) and French (27 EUR) are positioned in mid field. The Belgians (23 EUR), Irish (16 EUR) and Spaniards (2 EUR) are at the bottom of the league. The figures refer to 2006 (2005 for Ireland).
This and lots more information about the organic market is contained in the new edition of the Organic Market Manual 2008 recently published by ZMP. [+] 

NATRUE AND IKW LAUNCH INTERNATIONAL NATURAL COSMETICS LABEL
The European Natural and Organic Cosmetics Interest Grouping (NaTrue) and the German Cosmetic, Toiletry, Perfumery and Detergent Association (IKW) have entered into a strategic alliance to establish an internationally recognized label for natural cosmetics – the "NaTrue Label". The criteria for this are to be published in May 2008 and the first products bearing the label will be available on the German and European market as early as summer 2008.[+]

SUCCESSFUL ORGANIC CONFERENCE IN KIEV
Over 200 participants from 25 countries attended the first international organic conference in the capital of the Ukraine from 10-12 April. The event in the 3-million-inhabitant metropolis of Kiev is intended to encourage all the surrounding countries to become intensively involved with the issue of organic farming and marketing. Initiator Evgeniy Milovanov from the Organic Federation of Ukraine and co-organizer Gerald Herrman from Organic Services were extremely satisfied with the success of the event. The aim of the conference with top speakers was to present status quo reports from the Ukraine and neighbouring countries, to profit from experiences in the EU and to establish a network of players. [+]

MAJORITY OF DARJEELING TEA TO GO ORGANIC
The Darjeeling Tea Association (DTA) has mounted efforts to increase the production of organic tea so that the majority of the champagne of teas is organically produced by 2010.
Industry sources say that at present about 37 % of the total crop grown on the slopes of the eastern Himalayas is organic tea. "Efforts are on now to cover at least two more gardens that contribute 13 % of the total yield under the organic cultivation norms," a source at the DTA told the Indian newspaper The Hindu.
Given the fact that the annual Darjeeling tea crop averages at about 9.5 to 10 million kg in volume terms, India would be offering around five million kg of the brew as an organically grown product. However, initially the crop would be lower as the conversion process reduces output by half. At present the 'queen of brews' is grown over an area spanning 7,500 hectares in the Darjeeling district in West Bengal on 87 tea estates.[+]

GROWING ORGANIC MARKET IN AUSTRIA
The sale of organic products in the Alpine republic grew by 10 % in 2007. This is due mainly to price rises, as the quantity sold rose by only 4 %, reports Organic Market Forum. Domestic sales of organic products in 2006 amounted to 530 million EUR and should be some 580 million EUR in 2007.
The organic share of total consumption is 15 % for fresh milk (incl. ESL milk) and potatoes and 16 % for eggs, but only 1.6 % for sausages and ham and 2.9 % for meat and poultry. Fresh fruit and vegetables are in the middle with 7 %.

BIO-CENTER IN BUDAPEST ON 600 SQUARE METERS
In the autumn of 2007 the Hungarian organic store specialist György Wéber opened an organic supermarket together with a natural personal care shop, organic restaurant and fresh food shop in the popular shopping centre called Mammut 1 in the centre of Budapest. The whole set-up occupies a generous 600 m² of retail space. Bio-Center is currently attracting around 400 customers a day. The fresh food shop with fruit, vegetables and a juice bar with freshly pressed organic juices is franchised to a local organic farmer. Bio-Center incorporates the only organic supermarket in Hungary and has brought Hungarian organic consumers modern shopping comparable with Vienna, Munich and Paris.

ITALY: BAULE VOLANTE TAKEN OVER BY ECOR
The organic food wholesaler Baule Volante with an annual turnover of 10 million EUR, 1,000 articles and warehouse space of 2,500 m² has been taken over by organic food wholesaler and industry leader Ecor. Baule Volante has a workforce of 50. The wholesaler with 20 years of experience sells goods throughout Italy as well as overseas to countries such as Australia, Portugal, Spain, Greece and Dubai. Despite the takeover, Baule Volante will continue to operate independently, but with a clearer orientation to the specialist trade than in the past, as reported by Greenplanet.net and Bio-Markt.Info. Last year, Ecor and the organic supermarket chain NaturaSì decided to exchange shares.

LAW AMENDMENT ON GMO IN FRANCE
After many hours of heated debates on a GMO bill, marked by many insults between the rightists and leftists, the French National Assembly adopted an amendment raised by the opposition and defended by the communist delegate of Puy-de-Dôme, André Chassaigne. It indicates that transgenic plants may only be cultivated in respect of "agricultural structures, local ecosystems and in lines of production methods which are qualified, "without genetically modified organisms", "and with full transparency". The bill was voted for by the socialist, communist and green delegates, but also by four delegates of the majority, which overturned the assembly.
The adoption of this amendment represents a "major advantage for GMO-free cultures", since it is a legal basis to exclude GMO from certain zones, the socialist delegates underlined.[+]

IFOAM EU GROUP OPPOSES EU LOGO POSTPONEMENT
"This is a mess," said Francis Blake, president of the IFOAM EU Group, "and it’s going to cause serious problems. It is really not possible to postpone only this part of the new regulation – other parts have implications for labelling that mean many products will have to change their labels twice. This is absolutely not acceptable for the market," Blake said.
"The best option to keep the regulation on track is to withdraw the requirement for a mandatory logo, which anyway has always been controversial. Then the new regulation can start next January on schedule." European experts from 21 countries met in Plovidiv, Bulgaria, to discuss the future of organic food and farming in the context of the CAP Health check, the new organic regulation and other relevant issues. In a pre-press conference on April 2, the Bulgarian deputy minister of agriculture Dimiter Peychev and Marco Schlüter, director of the IFOAM EU Group, outlined that "organic production provides great opportunities for Bulgarian agriculture and will be its future."

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[*] As reported by the Agrarisch Dagblatt, Whole Foods is planning to open a store in Birmingham and would then like to tackle the European mainland.

 
[*] The semi-public agency Agence Bio in Paris together with six associations is currently in the process of preparing a large organic campaign for 2008 – 2010.

[*] Spain is about to reach the 1 million ha mark for organic land: The organically farmed area was already 988,323 ha in 2007, which was 14 % more than the year before. (ZMP)