DOMESTIC AND EUROPEAN MARKET OF ORGANIC PRODUCTS

The paper aims to determine the size and the structure of organic product sector in Europe, and the position of Italian products on foreign markets. Despite the Economic crisis, the sector is expanding, both in international demand and supply. The positive trend is in line with the general evolution of society in developed countries, which have different models of consumption and different lifestyles, so that a growing number of consumers pay attention to their food choices, in order to respect the well-being of other people, animals and to preserve the integrity of the natural environment. Official information about the size and the composition of the organic production sector and on the market flows are incomplete and the comparisons among different nations’ data are quite difficult to make because of the presence of a variety of mergers, definitions, classifications and sources. Therefore, the sector’s size and characteristics (surfaces, operators, consumption, imports /exports) can only be defined with the help of available, even if not always univocal, sources.