With an increase by 33% of organic surfaces in 2008 [compared with 2007] and by 16% of the number of operators selling organics, Spain is today the leader in organic production in Europe - according to Organic-market.info.
In Europe the total organically managed land is around 1.3 million hectares. From 2004 to 2008, organic land increased by 80%, and the number of organic operators grew by 33%.
Andalusia is Spain's major organic region with a share of 60% of the total organic land [more than 780,000 hectares]. Organic surfaces seem to have grown by 13% in 2009 - according to Ecoalimenta.com. However Castilla-La Mancha seems to have registered in 2008 the greatest growth of organic land, by 147%,and is now the second largest organic region in the country with almost 120,000 hectares.
In 2007, the Spanish organic food market was worth 200 million euros, Organic-market.info reports, with the annual per capita spend on organic food coming to about 8 euros in 2006.
In 2008, there were more than 23,000 certified organic companies, an increase of 16% on the previous year, with more than 21,000 producers, 2,168 processors and marketers, 81 importers and 380 trading companies like wholesalers, store keepers and distributors.
Catalonia, with 441 producers, has 120 distributing companies of the 380 listed in the official statistics. Andalusia, with close to 400 processors, has most of the oil mills in the country. Andalusia is also a leader in processing and packaging fruit and vegetables.
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