Quite clearly, selling organic pork has become particularly more difficult both in Denmark and in the export markets. Friland, Danish Crown’s organic food company, recorded a decline in revenue to DKK 918.8 million for the 2022/23 financial year, down 13% on the previous year when Friland’s revenue reached a record high of DKK 1.059 billion.
Despite the decline, both Friland and Danish Crown remain optimistic about future sales of organic products.
“For long periods during the financial year, the supply of organic meat exceeded demand, and this imbalance only started to wear off in the final months of the financial year. Looking back, this was a turbulent year marked by uncertainty and inflation. Consumer spending has not improved as much as we would have liked – neither in our domestic market nor in export markets,” says Claus Hein, the CEO of Friland.
The downturn in sales of organic meat partly reflected the fact that consumers bought fewer and cheaper cuts of the organic products. Consumer panel data from market research company Kauza show that fewer Danes bought fresh organic meat in the past year. According to Kauza, the fall amounted to 11%.
According to Friland’s CEO, the company’s strategy will probably extend to a longer period due to the current market situation. This does not change the fact that he remains fully confident about the strategic plans, and the sales outlook for some segments actually appears to be improving. For example, Friland recorded increased sales of organic pork in the North American market.
“Our confidence in Friland is as strong as ever. Our direction and strategy remain the same, and we will team up with our cooperative owners to turn the trend so that Friland, and other Danish organic food producers for that matter, can continue to drive developments in Europe,” says Jais Valeur, CEO of Danish Crown.
Overall, this meant the settlement price paid to Friland’s suppliers fell relative to the previous year. The price dropped from DKK 26.27 to DKK 23.79 per kilo for organic pig suppliers and from DKK 33.48 to DKK 31.53 per kilo for organic cattle suppliers. For pig suppliers of FRILANDSGRIS®, the average settlement price rose from DKK 13.65 to DKK 16.51 per kilo.