Organic products increasingly affordable in Netherlands

Organic products in the Netherlands are becoming more affordable, according to a price comparison by consumers' association Consumentenbond. Five years ago organic products were on average twice as expensive as regular ones. Now buying organic is 63 percent more expensive, AD reports.

The association compared 115 products from 13 regular supermarkets and four organic stores.

Organic products are more expensive, because producing them is more labor intensive, the yield per hectare is lower, and the producers do not use artificial pesticides. As production is lower, packaging and distribution are also relatively expensive. The prices at the organic stores that formed part of this study - Marqt, EkoPlaza, Natuurwinkel and Odin - were between 15 and 28 percent higher than average .

While organic stores are still more expensive than regular supermarkets, they do have a much larger selection - organic stores have thousands of products in their assortment, while supermarkets offer around a thousand, according to the association. There are also a number of products where the organic house brand is cheaper than the regular A-brand products, Consumentenbond discovered.

The association also noticed that supermarkets often supply products in small packages. Large packages are more sustainable, if you are able to use up all of the product. Organic shops often supply large packages of non-perishable products like flour, rice and nuts, which means that customers spend less on those products than when buying small packages at a supermarket.

In 2017 Dutch consumers spent 1.5 billion euros on organic products, according to the latest figures from trade association Bionext.