High Season 2019 in the World Flower Market – conclusions and summary
March 12, 2019
January and February are the best season of the year for the Latin American flower industry. Exporters expect that on this Valentine’s Day their sales will grow between 3% and 6% with respect to 2018. In 2018 the export of flowers fell by 3%, according to the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Investment. The reasons were delays in cargo flights and excess supply of the product.
Valentine’s Day and International Women’s Day represent 45% of the annual sales made by the sector. The countries that acquire the most roses for the Day of Love and Friendship are the United States, Russia, Spain, Luxembourg, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. For Women’s Day – the main buyers are the countries of the Former Soviet Union and part of Europe.
One of the main competitors of the flower market – Latam Cargo, reported that this season they transported, only from Ecuador, almost 5000 tons of flowers. The company said that more than 140 Latam Cargo B767-300F planes took off from Ecuador and Colombia to transport roses during these high season weeks.
There is a calculation that indicates that, compared to the same high season of 2018, the export of flowers has grown 20%. A clear indication of increased demand for flowers in the world.
On the quality side, this season was mainly characterized by an excellent sunny and warm weather, which caused an overproduction in advance. The main problem in quality for high season 2019 was precisely the freshness of the flower and the cut point. Some producers had no choice but to cut the flower several days earlier than planned and store them.
Most of the clients were quite flexible under these circumstances and accepted flower with a more open cut point, and that has been stored, but for no more than 3-4 days in cold rooms. On the other hand, the clients tried to negotiate with the farms and lower the prices, highlighting that they are buying flowers with some quality issues.
During the high season weeks, High Control Group team has revised three times the boxes, they usually check weekly during the rest of the year. And with great satisfaction we can affirm that we have successfully overcome the challenge!