Production of agricultural organic products is steadily increasing. The interest in and support for organic production from the government is significant from the early 1990s and onwards. Even though the development of organic consumer products has been less dynamic, the past years have experienced an expansion in product varieties.
The focus so far has been on organic agriculture. Less research has been carried out and less attention has been paid in the areas of value-adding, distribution and consumption. Most consumer research has focused on consumer attitudes and not on consumers’ actual choices. As there is often a discrepancy between attitudes and actual choices it is of great value to study factors for consumers’ choice of organic produce.
We analyse cost and price formation in the supply chain. The analysis is based on interviews and questionnaires reflecting upon key persons’ valuation of structure of supply and demand. This report is also the first study of Swedish actual demand for organic food as we analyse data from stores and consumer panels. Even though the aim of collecting the data has not been to study of consumers’ choice of organic produce, the data provides a unique opportunity to study consumer choice of organic or conventional food.