Summary
ACP organic exporters have sustained strong growth in volumes to the EU market in 2020 despite a slight reduction in overall EU organic imports. In some organic product areas (rice and sugar) opportunities appear to exist which ACP producers have yet to exploit. Given the growing EU policy focus on the environmental sustainability of patterns of agri-food imports to the EU, exploring expansion into organic production in these areas could prove worthwhile. However, three headwinds are faced in continuing the expansion of ACP organic exports to the EU: the scheduled reforms to the EU’s organic product regime; the new trade administration complications for ACP organic exports to the UK, resulting from the UK’s departure from EU electronic systems for the management of imports of organic products; and the likely divergence of EU and UK organic certification requirements. Close attention will need to be paid to this issue by ACP organic exporters if existing growth in the volume of ACP organic exports to the Europe are to be sustained.
Trends in Overall EU Organic Product Imports
Overall, measured by volume, EU imports of organic products ‘decreased slightly between 2019 and 2020’, falling 1.9% (from 2.85 million tonnes to 2.79 million tonnes). But with considerable variation across products. In addition, the statistical overview is complicated by the partial nature of annual data from the UK included in the 2020 statistics, given the three-month delay in reporting and the UK’s departure from the EU customs union and single market on 1 January 2021 (1).
The principal port of entry for organic products to the EU is the Netherlands (almost 1/3), followed by Germany (18 %), Belgium (11 %) and France (10 %) (1).
For analytical purposes, the EC places organic imports into 7 categories, with the following broad trends in 2020:
- Commodities: the most important category by volume (48% in 2020 but only 29% by value) which includes among others: ‘cereals, vegetable oils and oilseeds, sugars, milk powders and butter, unroasted coffee and cocoa’, with this product category declining 11% by volume in 2020.
- Other primary: which includes, meat products, fruit and vegetables, milk yoghurt and honey, with this product category increasing 8% in 2020.
- Processed: which includes cheese, meat preparations, wine, and fruit juices, with this product category increasing 4.2% in 2020.
- Food preparations: which includes infant food, confectionary, and pasta, with this product category, when wine is also included, increasing 29.6% in 2020.
- Beverages: which includes beers, spirits, and soft drinks, with this product category declining 22.3% in 2020.
- Non-edible: which covers plants and essential oils, with this product category increasing 21.5% in 2020.
- Fish and other non-agricultural organic products, with this product category increasing 17.2% in 2020 (1).
Trends in EU Imports of Organic Products from ACP Countries
In 2020 some 47 ACP countries exported organic products to the EU, with ACP three countries falling out of the organic product export trade in 2020 (Botswana, Gambia, and Grenada), having accounted for only 0.0017% of Eu imports by volume in 2019 (a mere 8 tonnes). Four countries exported to the EU in 2020 which had no organic export trade in 2019 (Solomon Islands, Eswatini, Angola, Dominica). This is indicative of the intermittent nature of the trade in organic products for a range of smaller ACP organic product exporters (1).
15 other ACP countries saw the volume of their organic exports to the EU fall in 2020. However, these countries only accounted for 1.8% of the total volume of ACP organic exports in 2019 (falling to 0.9% in 2020). The other 32 ACP countries which accounted for 98.2% of the volume of ACP organic exports to the EU all saw their export volumes increase in 2020 compared to 2019 (1).
In contrast to the 1.9% decline in overall volume of EU organic imports in 2020, EU imports of organic products from ACP countries rose 22.2% in 2020. This saw the ACP share of EU organic product imports increase in volume terms from 15.2% to 18.9%. This is an impressive export performance in the organics sector, given the international shipping disruptions which the Covid-19 pandemic gave rise to (1).
Volume and Share of EU organic product Imports from ACP Countries (tonnes)
| Rank | 2019 | 2020 | Change % | Share EU Imports 2020 | |
| EU Total Imports | 2,848,716 | 2,794,103 | -1.9% | ||
| ACP Countries Where Exports to the EU Grew in 2020 | |||||
| 2 | Dominican Republic | 229,218 | 252,293 | +10.1% | 9.01% |
| 13 | Togo | 44,684 | 54,107 | + 20.9 | 1.94% |
| 19 | Cote d’Ivoire | 23,487 | 35,475 | +51.0% | 1.27% |
| 24 | South Africa | 21,713 | 27,860 | +28.3% | 1.0% |
| 27 | Uganda | 16,020 | 23,317 | +45.5% | 0.83% |
| 30 | Ghana | 19,313 | 19,730 | +2.2% | 0.71% |
| 31 | Sierra Leone | 11,535 | 18,288 | +58.5% | 0.65% |
| 33 | Burkina Faso | 13,242 | 16,631 | +25.6% | 0.60% |
| 34 | Ethiopia | 14,074 | 15,972 | +13.5% | 0.57% |
| 42 | DRC | 7,427 | 11,615 | +56.4% | 0.41% |
| 44 | Kenya | 4,468 | 9,466 | +111.9% | 0.34% |
| 46 | Benin | 2,081 | 7,877 | +278.5% | 0.28% |
| 47 | Madagascar | 5,337 | 6,796 | +27.3% | 0.24% |
| 49 | Sudan | 2,187 | 4,611 | 110.9% | 0.17% |
| 50 | Mozambique | 1,143 | 4,209 | +268.2% | 0.15% |
| 51 | Tanzania | 3,445 | 3,908 | +13.4% | 0.14% |
| 52 | Mali | 2,936 | 3,768 | +28.3% | 0.13% |
| 54 | Sao Tome & Principe | 1,508 | 2,970 | +97.0% | 0.11% |
| 64 | Papua New Guinea | 1,290 | 1,536 | +19.1% | 0.05% |
| 76 | Guyana | 489 | 495 | +1.3% | 0.02% |
| 77 | Lesotho | 430 | 489 | +13.8% | 0.02% |
| 78 | Guinea Bissau | 5 | 379 | +7851.3% | 0.01% |
| 80 | Haiti | 216 | 346 | +60.1% | 0.01% |
| 84 | Nigeria | 289 | 320 | +11.0% | 0.01% |
| 85 | Zimbabwe | 143 | 236 | +64.9% | 0.01% |
| 97 | Suriname | 36 | 85 | +136.2% | 0.003% |
| 102 | Fiji | 16 | 37 | +139.3% | 0.001% |
| 103 | Somalia | 32 | 32 | +2.9% | 0.001% |
| 104 | Solomon Island | 0 | 31 | N.A. | 0.001% |
| 111 | Eswatini | 0 | 11 | N.A. | 0.0004% |
| 113 | Angola | 0 | 5 | N.A. | 0.0002% |
| 117 | Dominica | 0 | 1 | N.A. | 0.00004% |
| Sub-Total | 423,965 | 522,866 | |||
| ACP Countries Where Exports to the EU Fell in 2020 | |||||
| 55 | Senegal | 4,425 | 2,400 | -45.8% | 0.09% |
| 69 | Rwanda | 1,128 | 684 | -39.4% | 0.02% |
| 73 | Niger | 640 | 580 | -9.4% | 0.02% |
| 83 | Chad | 580 | 322 | -44.5% | 0.01% |
| 87 | Cameroon | 304 | 183 | -39.9% | 0.01% |
| 93 | Namibia | 126 | 102 | -19.2% | 0.004% |
| 94 | Samoa | 115 | 97 | -15.6% | 0.003% |
| 99 | Burundi | 115 | 58 | -49.5% | 0.002% |
| 105 | Zambia | 49 | 29 | -39.3% | 0.001% |
| 106 | Vanuatu | 42 | 24 | -42.9% | 0.001% |
| 107 | Comoros | 52 | 23 | -54.7% | 0.001% |
| 109 | Guinea | 18 | 16 | -12.6% | 0.001% |
| 110 | Belize | 28 | 13 | -54.7% | 0.0005% |
| 112 | Seychelles | 24 | 7 | -70.8% | 0.0003% |
| 116 | Mauritius | 3 | 1 | -57.8% | 0.00004% |
| Sub-Total | 7,649 | 4,539 | |||
| ACP Countries Which Stopped Exporting Organic Products to the EU Fell in 2020 | |||||
| 120 | Botswana | 3 | 0 | -100% | 0% |
| 121 | Gambia | 2 | 0 | -100% | 0% |
| 123 | Grenada | 3 | 0 | -100% | 0% |
| Sub-Total | |||||
| 8 | 0 | ||||
| GRAND TOTAL | 431,622 | 527,405 | 22.2% | ||
Within the ACP Group, the Dominican Republic plays the dominant role in organic exports to the EU market, accounting by volume, for 52.9% of ACP organic exports in 2020 and 47.9% in 2020. After the Dominican Republic, the second highest ACP exporter by volume is Togo, which exported only 54,361 tonnes, some 80% of which consisted of soyabean exports.
Eight other ACP countries exported between 10,000 and 40,000 tonnes or organic products to the EU in 2020 (Cote d’Ivoire – mainly bananas, South Africa– mainly citrus, Uganda – multiple products, Ghana – mainly bananas, Burkina Faso -multiple products, Sierra Leone – multiple products, Ethiopia – mainly coffee and oilcakes and DRC – multiple products).
10 further ACP countries exported between 1,000 and 10,000 tonnes, with Kenya leading the way with a variety of low volume high value fruit and vegetable exports.
11 ACP countries exported between 100 and 500 tonnes in 2020, 16 exported less than 100 tonnes.
The Dominant Role of Bananas in the Organic Trade
The Dominican Republic is not only the largest ACP organic exporter, but the second largest source of EU imports after Ecuador, (which accounted for 11.6% of total EU organic product imports in 2020 -down from 10.7% in 2019). This is due to the role organic banana exports play in the Dominican Republic’s trade with the EU (bananas also play a dominant role on Ecuador’s exports to the EU).
EU Organic Imports from the Dominican Republic 2019 -2020 (tonnes)
| 2019 | 2020 | Change % | Share Total DR Organics 2020 | |
| Tropical fruit, nuts, and spices (mainly bananas | 204.2 | 221.6 | 8.5% | 87.8% |
| Cocoa beans | 24.2 | 27.9 | 15.3% | 11.1% |
| Citrus Fruit | 0.6 | 1.2 | 118.6% | 0.5% |
| Flours and products of milling industry | 0.0 | 1.3 | N. A. | 0.5% |
| TOTAL | 229.2 | 252.3 | 10.1% |
The EU includes bananas in the products category ‘tropical fruit, nuts and spices, with this being by far the most important product group is with 30 % or 0.84 million tonnes’ of total EU imports of organic products (1). In 2020 EU imports in this product category grew 9%, with the Dominican Republic accounting for 26% of EU imports in this broad category. Other important ACP organic exporters in this product category included Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, and Burkina Faso, with strong growth in Ivorian organic banana exports to the EU in 2020 (1).
Other Major Organic Exports by Volume
In 2020 EU imports or organic soybeans increased 5.4%, with Togo being the leading country of origin, with organic exports increasing 20.4% in 2020. Other ACP exporters of organic soybean include Uganda, Benin, where in both cases rapid growth is underway from a low base and Burkina Faso.
In 2020 imports of other fruit (excluding citrus) increased 7% while EU organic vegetable imports grew by only 1%.
Almost half of EU imports of organic citrus originate in South Africa.
EU imports of organic unroasted coffee and cocoa beans increased 6.7% (from 123,000 tonnes to 131,000 tonnes) and 16.1% (from 65,000 tonnes to 76,000 tonnes) respectively in 2020 (1).
EU27 organic import in the main product categories where ACP exporters have an export interest (‘000 tonnes)
| Share Total 2019 | 2019 | 2020 | Change % | Share Total 2020 | |
| Tropical fruit, fresh or dried, nuts and spices | |||||
| – Dominican Republic | 26.4% | 204.2 | 331.6 | +8.5% | 26.3% |
| – Cote d’Ivoire | 2.6% | 20.3 | 31.5 | +54.9% | 3.7% |
| – Ghana | 2.2% | 17.3 | 17.1 | -0.9% | 2.0% |
| – Kenya | 0.5% | 3.7 | 8.1 | +119.6% | 1.0% |
| – Burkina Faso | 0.6% | 4.9 | 5.9 | +19.7% | 0.7% |
| Sub-Total | 32.4% | 250.5 | 394.2 | +57.4% | 46.8% |
| Total EU Imports | 772.4 | 843.2 | +9.2% | ||
| Soyabeans | |||||
| – Togo | 32.5% | 42.3 | 51.0 | +20.4% | 37.1% |
| – Uganda | 0.2% | 2.3 | 8.8 | +282.7% | 0.6% |
| – Benin | 0.05% | 0.7 | 6.3 | +758.4% | 0.5% |
| – Burkina Faso | 0.3% | 3.7 | 5.2 | +41.1% | 0.4% |
| Sub-Total | 37.6% | 49.0 | 71.3 | +45.5% | 51.9% |
| Total EU Imports | 130.3 | 137.3 | +5.4% | ||
| Unroasted coffee, tea in bulk & mate | |||||
| – Ethiopia | 4.8% | 6.4 | 5.8 | -10.1 | 4.2% |
| Total EU Imports | 132.2 | 138.4 | +4.7 | ||
| Oilcakes | |||||
| – Ethiopia | 0 | 0.0 | 5.2 | N.A. | 2.3% |
| Total EU Imports | 298.1 | 231.8 | -22.2% |
While Chile and Argentina dominant EU imports of organic wine (43% and 37% respectively, South Africa also has a presence on the EU organic wine market (1).
For some products where ACP countries have a production interest, but where no significant exports currently take place to the EU, imports are growing, for example for rice (1).
| Comment and Analysis ACP organic product exporters have performed well in 2020, contrary to the slight decline in overall EU organic imports. Strong growth was achieved in 32 of the 47 ACP countries which export organic products to the EU, with these 32 countries accounting for 98.2% of the total volume of ACP organic exports to the EU.While exports of organic bananas continued to grow, non-banana organic exports from ACP countries actually grew faster in volume terms. In certain areas such as rice, where no ACP organic exports to the EU take place, there could be scope for the entry of ACP organic producers to these EU markets. This needs to be seen in the context of the growing EU policy focus on promoting climate friendly and environmentally sustainable patterns of agricultural production in countries which seek to place goods for slae on the EU market. Similar considerations apply in the sugar sector, where the environmental impact of 3rd country production processes is likely to increasingly come under the spotlight of public concern. However, in both the rice and sugar sectors, this will need to be a commercial decision, made in light of the rapidly evolving EU regulatory requirements and policy exhortations through the newly launched ‘farm to fork’ code of conduct (2, 3, 4). However, the recent strong performance in ACP organic product exports to European markets (EU27 and UK) could face headwinds in the coming years as a result of three factors. The first most immediate headwind, arises from the new trade administration complications for ACP organic exports to the UK, resulting from the UK’s departure from EU electronic systems for the management of imports of organic products. This is primarily impacting on small scale exporters of multiple organic products in single consignments. The adverse commercial consequence stem from the increased internal trade administration costs incurred by using a ‘paper-based’ system of organic trade documentation, which can be considerable if only limited volumes of exports are involved, and the risk of the loss of the organic price premium if trade documentation is misplaced on route (for more details see epamonitoring.net article ‘Lack of UK IT Systems for Organic Imports Poses Challenges for ACP Fresh Produce Exporters’, 17 June 2021) The second headwind arises from the scheduled reforms to the EU’s organic product regime, the implementation of which was deferred until 2022 as a result of the practical difficulties faced as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. These regulatory changes aim to: · Simplify product rules by ‘phasing out of a number of exceptions and opt outs.’ · Extend the product coverage. · Simplify certification for small farmers, via a new system of group certification. · Establish a ‘more uniform approach to reducing the risk of accidental · Phase out ‘exemptions for production in demarcated beds in greenhouses’. · Require third country producers ‘to comply with the same set of rules as those · Strengthen control systems to ensure ‘robust checks along the entire supply chain’ It is the latter two dimensions, the requirement to comply with precisely the same rules as EU producers and stricter implementation of more robust checks, which is of potential concern to ACP organic products exporters (for more details see companion epamonitoring.net article, ‘Implementation of New EC Organic Products Regulation Postponed but Unresolved Brexit Issue Threatens Commercial Gains of ACP Organic Production’, 15 October 2020). This will critically depend on how these two dimensions of the new EU organic policy are implemented in practice and to what extent they will add to the administrative costs of exporting organic products to the EU. Once again it is likely to be smaller scale ACP exporters who are most vulnerable to these changes, with these changes potentially making it more difficult to gain initial access to EU organic product markets. The third headwind arises from the likely divergence of EU and UK organic certification requirements from 2024. From 2021 it is likely ACP organic exporters will need separate EU and UK organic certification if both EU and UK markets are to be served. This will add to costs and will need to be addressed in the course of 2023, if organic premiums are not to be lost on some markets from 2024 |
Sources:
(1) EC, ‘EU imports of organic agri-food products: Key developments in 2020’, EU Agricultural Market Briefs No. 18, June 2021
https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/default/files/food-farming-fisheries/farming/documents/agri-market-brief-18-organic-imports_en.pdf
(2) EC, ‘Farm to Fork Strategy: 65 companies and associations sign the EU Code of Conduct on Responsible’, 5 July 2021
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/IP_21_3385
(3) EC, ‘EU Code of Conduct on Responsible Food Business and Marketing Practices: A common aspirational path towards sustainable food systems’, June 2021
https://ec.europa.eu/food/system/files/2021-06/f2f_sfpd_coc_final_en.pdf
(4) EC, ‘A Farm to Fork Strategy for a fair, healthy and environmentally-friendly food system’, 20 May 2020, (COM (2020) 381 final
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/resource.html?uri=cellar:ea0f9f73-9ab2-11ea-9d2d-01aa75ed71a1.0001.02/DOC_1&format=PDF
(5) EC, ‘New legislation from 2022’
https://ec.europa.eu/info/food-farming-fisheries/farming/organic-farming/future-organics_en