Organic bread - Eureka!, Dave's Killer Bread, Ezekiel 4:9, Rudi's
Organic bread sales made up 1.3% of total bread sales in 2010.

WASHINGTON — Organic bread’s market share in the overall bread category more than doubled between 2004 and 2010, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture report issued in May. The premium price for organic bread changed from year to year over that time period, but no significant trend was found in that category, according to the report “Changes in Retail Organic Price Premiums from 2004 to 2010.”

The U.S.D.A.’s Economic Research Service used Nielsen Homescan data for 2004-10 in creating the report, which covered 17 products.

Organic bread sales made up 1.3% of total bread sales in 2010, which compared with a low of 0.5% in 2004. The organic share of total lbs of bread sold was 0.8% in 2010, which compared with a high of 0.83% in 2008 and a low of 0.3% in 2004.

The price for organic bread in 2010 was 30.2% higher than the price of non-organic bread, which was barely a change from 30.1% in 2004. The highest organic bread price premium was 46% in 2005, and the lowest was 25% in 2008.

“Consumers choose from a wide variety of types of bread — e.g., whole wheat, 100% whole wheat, white, bran, oat, fruit, rye, pita and potato,” the U.S.D.A. report said. “The organic price premium in 2010 was about 52c per lb, or 30% of the conventional price. Both the premium and the per cent of conventional price fluctuated during the study period, and there is no clear trend.”

Organic bread price premiums chart
The price premium for organic bread fluctuated between 2004 and 2010 but showed no clear trend.

The premium price for organic bread in 2010 was the 11th highest among the 17 products. Organic eggs had the highest premium price at 82%. Other organic products coming in higher than organic bread were milk (72%), salad (60%), canned beans (54%), spaghetti sauce (53%), yogurt (52%), coffee (47%), celery (44%), soup (33%) and baby food — strained (31%). Organic products with a lower premium price than organic bread in 2010 were baby food — junior (29%), apples (29%), potatoes (28%), carrots (27%), granola (22%) and spinach (7%).

While the U.S.D.A. study ended with data from 2010, organic bread sales look to increase in 2016. Flowers Foods, Inc., Thomasville, Ga., recently acquired Dave’s Killer Bread and Alpine Valley, two companies that sell organic bread varieties. Bimbo Bakeries USA, Horsham, Pa., is extending its line of Eureka! organic bread.

In the U.S.D.A. study, organic prices at the retail level in 2010 were more than 20% higher than the non-organic prices for 16 of the 17 products analyzed in the study. Organic spinach, at 7%, was the only product below 20%.

The price of organic granola was 22% higher than the price of non-organic granola in 2010, which compared with a high of 39% in 2004. Organic granola made up 30% of total granola sales in 2010, which was up from 5% in 2004.

Organic spaghetti sauce had a price that was 53% above non-organic spaghetti sauces in 2010, which compared with a high of 72% in 2004 and a low of 34.7% in 2007. Organic spaghetti sauce made up 2.5% of total spaghetti sauce sales in 2010, which compared to 0.6% in 2004.

For the U.S.D.A. report, visit link.