Kokova Magazine

Professional food and drink buyers visiting next month's Natural Food (trade) Show will be treated to a record number of new natural, organic, biodynamic, Fairtrade, free-from and special diet products for 2013, says organiser Diversified Business Communications UK.

Returning to London's Olympia on 7th - 8th April, over half of this year's New Product Showcase entries, which currently includes over 250 products (up 20% on 2012’s total) have been entered into the food, organic food, drink, and special diet categories.

Notably, given that today's announcement coincides with the launch of the Soil Association's annual Organic Market Report, of these four showcase categories for 2013, new Organic food and drink products (to date) have the most entries of all.

This rise in new innovations being launched onto the organic market reflects the continuing growth in the global sales of organic food and drink, which according to analysts Organic Monitor, has risen over 25% since 2008.

Despite the continuing economic downturn affecting all sales, not least organic products in the UK (reported by the Soil Association today to have fallen 1.5% to £1.64bn over the last year) – this year's Organic Market Report did announce some key areas of growth.

Organic catering and restaurant sales, for example, rose by 1.6% in 2012. Specialist organic suppliers, such as Ocado, Abel & Cole, Riverford, Whole Foods Market, Planet Organic, and many independent retail outlets across the UK, also saw a rise in organic sales (up 6.4% in the case of Ocado); with online sales now worth an estimated £4.1m a week.

Whilst the under-35s, the so called 'amie generation', which account for 16% of all sales, are cited as having significantly increased their average spend in 2012.

Talking to Natural Products magazine's editor Jim Manson earlier this week, Jim Twine, the Soil Association's business development director, was upbeat about the prospects for the UK organic sector:

Despite the fall off we've seen in the recession, there are a lot of committed organic consumers out there. Indies are really well placed to take advantage of this - they are already, their organic sales are growing. Also, for the first time we've got the hard data to show that the 'Jamie generation' is making its impact. And by definition, pulling through these younger shoppers means you are building the future generation of organic consumers

Natural & Organic Products Europe, of which the Natural Food Show is a part, has been helping to launch new brands into the natural and organic market since 1997.

As the only dedicated trade event of its type in the UK, the Natural Food Show, which features nearly 300 exhibitors from all around the world, is perfectly positioned to offer visiting retailers and food-service buyers with a lucrative opportunity to stock their shelves (real and virtual) and refresh their menus with the best choice of new food and drink options for their current - and future - organic consumers.

Please note this is a trade only event and not open to the general public.