DRIVING AND INHIBITING FACTORS IN THE ORGANIC FOOD CONSUMPTION IN SPAIN. THE CASE OF THE OLIVE OIL

The Spanish organic olive oil market is characterized, as is that of organic food, in general, by a significant increase in production and a meager demand, which has provoked that the local consumption has been taken as the main challenge, both by operators in the field as by the public administration. In this context, the main goal of this work is to acquire knowledge about the factors that drive and limit demand development of organic food as well as organic olive oil, and also to analyze whether the organic olive oil consumption is driven and conditioned by its own factors or not; that is, if it is or is not a particular organic food. The focus group methodology was used. Results show that driving and inhibiting factors of the demand of the organic foods mentioned in the group meetings are coherent with the existing literature and that the environment is not determinant in the purchasing behavior of Spanish consumers. There fore, it becomes clear that there are no differences in the motives for organic food and organic olive oil purchase. Also, the indicated limiting factors are the same in both cases, even though the high consideration of consumers for conventional olive oil acts as a hindrance to the demand of the organic one.