Buletin USAMV-CN, 64/2007 (-) ISSN 1454-2382 CONSUMER TRENDS IN ORGANIC FOODS Szente, V.; Tarnavölgyi, G., Szakály, Z. University of Kaposvár, Faculty of Economics, Department of Marketing and Trade H-7400 Kaposvár, Guba S. u. 40. Tel: 0036-82505800, Fax: 0036-82526593 szviki@ke.hu Keywords: organic food, market, consumer demand, marketing possibilities Abstract. In Europe the dynamical development of organic food market seems to stop. Besides the declining activity of the producers the potential of the increasing consumption decreases as well. Today we can observe a positive tendency in Hungary: due to the development of trade the organic consumption is rising which is perceptible mainly in case of the basic foods, such as vegetables and fruits, milk and dairy products, bakery products. The consumers are looking for the cheaper products which are available in hyper- and supermarkets. The increasing consumption is hindered by the small ground-space, the absence or restricted numbers of technical instruments, release certificates are difficult and expensive to obtain and the sellers are sometimes underqualified. Another positive change is that home delivery, which was little known at the beginning, has moved out from the standstill: the consumers are able to buy 100% organic food packages in more and more towns. An increasing number of little processors can be observed on the market with more differentiated and already forgotten products. In bio- and reform stores consumers can get a wider range of organic products. But as a food chain, the organic market is the most successful, in Csörsz Street in Budapest the demand is almost unsatisfiable. In the purchase of organic products the main anomaly it meant by the measure which came into force on 1 July 2005. According to the EGK 2092/91 and 392/2004 EK order every organic food trader (bio- and reform stores, hyper- and supermarkets and other food retailers and wholesalers) has to have the products controlled. But the efficiency of the regulation can be queried, which raises several questions. In the future the supply will probably predominate. Due to the reduced support a further decrease of the organic area can be expected. The sustenance and increase of the consumption level is only possible by an increasing marketing activity in which positioning for healthiness plays an important part. The consumer should mean the main the pulling power of the market. INTRODUCTION In the last 20 years, the importance of organic farming in Europe increased considerably. The overall increase lasted by 2002, when the number of organic farmers decreased for the first time [15]. In the following years, this hang was reflected in the volume of production, and then in 2006, statistics showed a slight drop of the consumption, too. This can probably be attributed to the limited potential of the market, and the decrease in prices caused by the move towards an offered market. In the demand of the consumers, however, no drop can be perceived. The highest volume of organic products is sold in Germany, while the per capita consumption is the highest in Denmark and Switzerland [13]. Denmark is outstanding in Europe and in the world as well, with the 5.6% proportion of organic foods from the total food consumption in 2003 [8]. Among the new EU member states, Czech Republic has the strongest organic food market. However, with the per capita spending of 1.25 EUR, which is about 3% of the German consumption, it is still far below the level of the developed Western European countries [4].