Sales of organic products grow more than the average for all food

It is still small and growing well, but it has a long way to go to reach its full potential. In 2025, Nomisma points out, organic reached 6.87 billion in sales, marking an annual growth of 4.9% against 2.9% for food in general. Ditto in volume: +3.6% versus +0.8% . This is mainly due to domestic consumption, which develops the highest turnover (over 5.5 billion) and is the most dynamic (+6.2%). Italians buy organic mainly in large-scale distribution (64% of expenditure). In 2025, receipts exceed 3.5 billion, 6.1%, more than in 2024, with peaks of +6.8% in discount stores and +5.9% in e-commerce (76 million).

Also pushing organic is the greater convenience compared to the past: the price differential compared to conventional has fallen to 8.7% (in the past it was around 20%) mainly due to the greater diffusion of retailer brands, which develop 51.7% of turnover and contribute more than half of the growth in 2025. Last year 93% of households bought organic (they were 55% in 2015) but 53% did so with some regularity compared to 20% of heavy users, on whom two thirds of consumption is concentrated.

"Increasing frequency of purchase is certainly a lever to be activated to grow the market," emphasises Silvia Zucconi of Nomisma, "just as there is work to be done on the composition of the trolley, expanding the assortments especially in emerging categories (such as free-from or protein) to ensure that organic remains aligned to the new consumer needs and also involves a different public.

That organic is concentrated on a few products, and rather traditional ones, can be seen by reading the composition of the expenditure, 53% of which consists of 15 categories. The best sellers are eggs, galette, milk replacers, fruit-based jams/spreads and olive oil; galette aside, they all grew in 2025. Eggs (+42%) were the best performers, but oil, breakfast cereals, yoghurt, nuts and seeds also increased by double digits. The fact remains that the incidence of organic products on the categories is very uneven: it ranges from 80% for galettes and 40% for bananas to less than 1% in important markets such as mozzarella and pasta.

A growing share of the market is covered by imports. That from third countries has almost doubled in a decade, reaching 270,121 tonnes per year, mainly from Turkey, Pakistan, Ecuador, Tunisia and Peru, and with significant annual growth for fruit (20%) and processed products (38%). Comparing these data with Italian organic production is impossible as official surveys are limited to surface areas, as these are the parameter on which the system of funding and incentives granted to organic farming in Italia and the EU is based.