Once every two weeks Yaroslav Haladzhy, a 40-year old designer living in Kyiv, makes a rather expensive grocery run. He pays up to Hr 500 for a small bag of simple food cereal, eggs, tea. The reason behind the high price is simple all the items are sold as "organic".

The healthy lifestyle trend came to Ukraine around four years ago. It sparked new interest in fitness centers, low-fat products and organic food. With the growing demand, organic food shops sprung up drastically. Haladzhy started eating organics five years ago. His devotion to it doubled his groceries budget. He says its worth it. I trust my body and it gives me clues that I should continue eating organics, he told Kyiv Post while shopping at the Eco Club stores - a popular Kyiv organic store chain, one of many. In Ukraine, eating organics means having to pay at least Hr 40 for 10 eggs instead of the regular Hr 15, or buy a kilo of sausages for more than Hr 200, while regular sausages are half of that price. Ukrainians average wage is just around Hr 3,000 per month, but the boom of organic stores and farms shows that many families are ready to increase their food budgets to make the menu healthier. Kyiv now has at least three organic grocery chains and multiple organic farms. The chains sell both Ukrainian and imported organic goods. The biggest chain, Eco Lavka, was launched around three years ago and opened 36 stores in Kyiv since then. It also sells organic food online and provides delivery to any part of Ukraine. Their competitor Eco Club chain has three stores, but claims to make most sales online. The assortment of our store is 30 percent Ukrainian and 70 percent imported. Although, we never had goods from Russia and Belarus, says Vira Artemenko, a shop assistant at Eco Club store. Artemenko claims to save 30 percent of her food budget buying organics, because organic food is quite filling and you never overeat. According to the Federation of Organic Movement of Ukraine, in 2012 there were already 164 organic food producers in the country. However, the Ukrainian organic food market is still dragging behind in comparison to Western Europe. According to the Organic Data Network, EU organic market resulted in 20.9 billion euros profit in 2012. Top giants of European organics are Germany, France, United Kingdom, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, and Netherlands. In comparison, Ukraines organic market was five million euros in 2012. The biggest share of the EU organic market goes to vegetables and fruits. Dairy products make the first runner-up. Organic eggs are selectively popular and meat products usually have high prices compared to the conventional products, hence the demand for them is the lowest. In Ukraine, the organic market was not legally regulated till January, when the parliament adopted a law that defines the organic products. Still, it failed to set clear rules on the procedure of certification of organic products, thus complicating the export of Ukrainian organic products. The State Statistics Service of Ukraine does not differentiate organic food from other agricultural products yet and doesnt give any market statistics for it.

Organic stores in Kyiv: Eco Shyk http://www.ecochic.com.ua Eco Lavka http://www.eco-lavka.com.ua Natur Boutique http://www.natur-boutique.ua Semero Kozlyat http://www.7koz.com.ua Villa Roz http://www.milk-shop.com.ua Eco Club http://www.ecoclub.ua Komora http://www.e-komora.com.ua Dyvolayf http://www.divolife.com.ua Vega Market http://www.vega-market.com

Kyiv Post staff writer Bozhena Sheremeta can be reached at sheremeta.bozhena@gmail.com.

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Organic food fad hits Ukrainian consumers