Organic is the fastest growing segment in the US market (US$ 4.2 billion in 1997) and the EU, taken as a whole (US$ 5 billion), is the world's largest market followed by Japan (US$ 1.2 billion). Forecast for 2005 indicates that the EU market for organic food could reach a retail value between ￡20 and ￡30 billion.

An average of 28% growth rate and local supply unable to satisfy increasing domestic demand, EU imports of organic products account, on average, for 40% of total sale offering excellent opportunities for DCs to export.

Estimate of global trade of organic product is US$ 100 billion by 2006.

Demand for organic tea like other food items has also been growing rapidly since it was introduced in the late 1980?ˉs. Organic tea consumption has bgrown by about 10 percent globally.

Sale and price premiums of organic products

Sweden, Austria, Denmark and the UK exhibit the highest share of supermarket organic sales; however, none, except the UK, show high annual organic food sales.

Germany, show a high percentage of sales through speciality shops (farm shops, organic food shops, health food shops etc.) suggesting a positive relationship between organic sales and specialized outlets since organic products were initially purchased by committed consumers to the "organic philosophy"

Growth in the organic market will require the conversion of occasional buyers into regular organic buyers through large retail outlets.

Personal contacts are considered very important in establishing the organic market.

The EU average for consumer price premiums in 2000 varied from 31% above conventional prices for organic red table wine up to 113% for organic chicken.

Organic teas command a premium of 30¨C40 % over conventionally- produced tea.

Price premiums also varied between different countries and distribution by sales channels played an important role in this regard. In countries where general food shops were very active in the marketing of organic food, consumer price premiums were usually lower than in countries where organic food shops or direct sales provided the main channels.

The countries with major markets of organic tea mostly do not domestically produce tea and therefore the demand for certified organic tea is growing at a rapid rate all over the world with Europe and the US leading the way

Trends in bio-organic tea research conducted in DTDRC

Keeping in view the increasing health hazards of tea cultivation mainly through the application of inorganic fertilizers and chemical pesticides the emphasis in Darjeeling has shifted to a more safe and environmental friendly tea cultivation. The centre being at the centre stage of such bio-organic cultivation techniques has concluded some experiments and also conducting some more as a path-finder to the organic tea planters of Darjeeling hills.

The efficacy of Bacillus thuringiensis over the conventional pesticides in controlling lepidopteran pests has been established through field experiments.

Experiments on the efficacy of neem as broad-spectrum pesticides have been conducted. Comparison with other pesticides revealed that the potential of neem in repelling insect pests is the best bait.

A fertilizer trial comparing the efficacy of bio-organic and inorganic fertilizersis under progress for the last five years. Trends available indicate that the bio-organic treated plots are nearly at par with organic plots as far as the yield is concerned. So far uptake of the NPK is concerned the bio-organic treated plants shows high uptake of these macro-nutrients. The physico-chemical properties of the soils of the bio-organic treated plots improved during these five years as compared to the inorganic treated plots.

Vermiculture and vermicomposting techniques are under the process of standardization through field experiments. Preliminary results are encouraging.

Some common weeds in tea plantation (Artimisia vulgaris, Urtica dioica, Polygonum runcinatum and Eupatorium glandulosum) were identified and evaluated in controlling some insect pests. The extracts of the aerial parts of these weeds exhibited antifeedant and repellant properties.