Economic Features of Canadian Organic Food at the Mass-market Retail Level

James Vercammen

CAFRI: Current Agriculture, Food and Resource Issues, 2004, issue 5, 11

Abstract: Over the past decade, Canada’s organic food industry has focused on the production of organic grains, oilseeds, fruits and vegetables and a limited amount of organic dairy products. Canadian organic grains and oilseeds are mostly destined for export, whereas Canadian organic fruits and vegetables and dairy products are mostly consumed domestically. With the exception of dairy products and a few other products such as breakfast cereal and fruit juice, Canadian companies have been mostly absent from the rapidly growing markets for processed organic foods. The extent to which these markets are currently being penetrated by Canadian organic food manufacturers and the size of the price premiums earned by these companies are worthy of investigation. Very little information exists about market structure and price premiums for processed organic foods sold in North American mass-market retail outlets. Market studies of Canada’s organic food market typically use a previously determined 30 percent price premium estimate for organic foods as a whole, and most studies are silent about specific characteristics of organic food manufacturers. In order for Canadian firms to increase their presence in the market for processed organic foods, more detailed information about market structure and the distribution of price premiums is needed.

Keywords: Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety; International Relations/Trade (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2004
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:cafric:45742

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.45742

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