Organic markets / consumers in Lithuania

Summary

Abstract. Organic farming in Lithuania develops from the early 90 but up to the year 2000 the increase of number of organic farms and area under organic production was insignificant. In 2005 there were 1811 organic operators certified. The area of certified land was 69 430 ha, which is 2,7% of then total area of agricultural land in Lithuania. Action plan for de-velopment of Organic Agriculture in Lithuania fore-casts increase in number of organic farms and antici-pate that by 2006 the area under organic production will constitute 5% of the country farmland. Despite the growing production of organic foods the demand exceeds supply. Organic food is sold via as well su-permarkets (processed products) as direct sale (vegetables, fruit, potatoes). The aim of this paper is to present recent research results on analysis of or-ganic market in Lithuania and factors that influence organic market growth. The research results show that high prices for organic products are perceived by the majority of respondents as a main barrier to buy organic food. The research results show that price premium for organic vegetables are much higher then for cereals products. Prices of organic vegetables are signally lower in 2005 comparing with 2004. Organic food prices are going down with growing supply of organic products. To develop further the organic food market in Lithuania it is essential to increase supply of organic food, develop processing and various sale channels for organic products.