Sales of certified organic health and beauty products in the UK increased by 20% in 2014 to £44.6million, according to a recent report by the Soil Association’s Organic Market.

Emma Reinhold, trade relations manager at Soil Association Certification, said, “It has been another fantastic year for the organic health and beauty market. Organic beauty now appeals to a much wider group of consumers, supported by initiatives like the Soil Association’s Organic Beauty Week, which are helping to move organic beauty into the mainstream and enable more consumers to discover the benefits of these products.”

The increase in demand for organic personal care products reflects the growth in the last year in the number of organic beauty brands. Specialist oil and herbal extract suppliers, Earthoil Plantations, the Kerfoot Group, Stalford Seed Oil, the Stephenson Group and Azelis UK Life Sciences are five of the top ten Soil Association Certification licensees that have a combined organic turner of over £9.3m.

Reinhold added, “Leading organic brands are also increasingly looking beyond the environmentally conscious core consumers that originally drove the market to appeal to a wider, less ideologically drive public looking for more natural products that work. The overall UK organic market it expected to grow steadily again in 2015 and should break the £2billion barrier in 2016.”

The report also showed that export revenue of UK companies in the sector reached £10m for the first time.