Flower care

T Aalsmeer Auction’s notes he houseplants’ market for flowering plants, but even more for green plants, is normally improving during the month of January, but not this year. Supplied quantities were not very big, but even so, prices have been slightly lower. The same market situation continued during the month of February, with only a slight improvement during Valentine’s week and during the week before International Woman’s Day (8 March). This feast is mainly celebrated in Russia and the other East European countries. Most important used products are the cut flowers and in particular the roses, but also potted plants are more and more used. Of course, mainly flowering plants and in particular the red coloured types and varieties, such as anthuriums, kalanchoes, pot roses, gerberas, but even green plants, especially the medium sized ones. During week number eight prices were best and this lasted until the middle of week 9. After that, prices of many products considerably decreased. Positive exceptions could be made for: dracaenas, for both margenta and marginata, bicolour types, the palm types areca, kentia, livistonia, roebelinii, and beaucarnea. Still, taking into account the period of the year, prices are reasonably normal. Wether the market develop more positively during the weeks to come remains to be seen. It will, of course depend very much on the weather, which so far was winter like. Remarkable was the very early beginning of the Woman’s Day campaign. It is said that this day has become a mixture of Mother’s Day and Valentine’s Day nowadays. The auctions’ selling and price results of February have been published already and they are very positive and satisfactory. The auctions’ total turnovers increased with 6.6%, but for houseplants the percentage was slightly higher. The positive results were not obtained with more volumes, but just with higher prices. The garden plants’ results have been slightly negative, mainly due to the very cold weather this year.

T t all started very late, but finally the real Valentine storm (of selling big quantities of flowers) arrived just on time, and all turned out positively. Valentine’s results have been good and nearly the same as last year. No records have been broken, but at the end everybody was very satisfied. As traditionally, the roses were the best seller number one. Normally, also carnations belong to the best sellers, but this year it was slightly different. Supplied quantities from Colombia have not been very plentiful. It looks as if the production acreage in this country is becoming smaller every other year. Secondly, the carnation position, which is traditionally a very strong product in England, is about to be taken over by the roses. Also demand for spray carnations has been lower this year. Still they are sold nicely in super markets, mega stores, and mail order companies, but the product has become less popular in the traditional flower shops. At the moment there is a great scarcity of daffodils, an important spring product. It is said that the productions in the south of the country will start later as a result of the cold weather during the whole month of January and a big part of February. Hopefully, they will arrive on time for the approaching Mother’s Day taking place on the 26th of March. Preparations are already to be made by importers and wholesalers.

A s expected before, the Valentine’s cut flower demand, sales and results were very good and considerably better than in previous years. As traditionally, the roses have been the best sellers. Prices were very high, but even so they have been selling easily. The only one problem was that certain special varieties from Ecuador were in shortage. On the other hand, African roses were plentiful. Very positive was the general quality level of the roses this year, which has sometimes been problematic in previous years. Other very good results were obtained with heliconias, calla lilies (zantedeschia), leucospermum cordifolium, and king proteas. Even during the post-Valentine weeks the market remained rather good and steady, in spite of the fact that the winter holidays and the carnival were taking place, while normally the market is much slower and quieter during these events. As from the end of the month, the supplied assortment has become wider, since the so-called spring flowers

Finally, Valentine’s Day’s demand, sales and results did turn out to be very good, and for roses even excellent. Supplied quantities of all flowers and in particularly of roses, were not big at all. To the contrary, more of them could have been sold had they been available. No quality problems at all have been reported this year, neither in products originating from the Netherlands, nor in those imported from overseas supplying countries. Right after the Valentine’s Day the cut flower market did become calm and too quiet. The cause was the winter holidays, when many people go on winter sports, and the return of severe winter weather, with very low temperatures and loads of snow, even in the very southern parts of the country. It was a strong winter this year, for a very long period, until the end of February. Under such circumstances it is always difficult to move and sell fresh and perishable products. Remarkable was the continuous scarcity and availability of the daffodils. It seems that production in the producing countries is late, which can be explained by the dark and cold weather during the whole month of January. However, most probably all will arrive to the market just later. During the very last week of the month the market has still been very slow and street sales were almost impossible. On the other hand, flowers originating from the Netherlands were extremely expensive. This has, however a positive effect on the flowers that are directly imported from other overseas countries. These flowers are imported for prices that are negotiated for a longer period of time, and therefore they do not fluctuate that much. V

Valentine Day’s cut flower demand, sales and results have been very good and satisfactory, especially for roses, chrysanthemums and orchids. Traditionally, carnations are also very popular, but this year it was different. Partly due to a certain scarcity of Colombian carnations, partly due to high purchase prices, and partly due some quality problems, which were showing up in the previous weeks. After quality problems have been noticed, buyers always become a bit reluctant. During the post-Valentine weeks the market became much slower and quieter, which is a normal. Fluctuating prices for Colombia and Ecuador roses were problematic for good market results. Also Dutch flowers’ prices were still very high, especially for roses and chrysanthemums. They say it was due to high demand in the countries where International Woman’s Day (8 March) is celebrated. Normally, there is hardly any special demand for Woman’s Day in Spain, but this year was different. Good demand, especially for chrysanthemums, bought by former East European immigrants, living nowadays in Spain. That was unexpected, but very welcome, report traders. Luckily, the chrysanthemum prices in the Netherlands have quite considerably decreased, which made sales much easier. On the other hand, other products such as: dendrobium orchids and leather leaves have become scarce and too expensive. New to the current cut flower assortment in Spain are tulips, aconitum and asters

Mother’s Day and Valentine’s Day’s demand, sales and results ended up very good and satisfactory. Even though purchase prices were very high this year, final sales went reasonably smoothly. The general quality level of the flowers was good. Roses from the Netherlands were of excellent quality and the overseas imported roses only some minor quality problems have been showing up. The post Valentine’s cut flower market has been much quieter and slower, which is nothing abnormal, since the winter holidays took place during the last two weeks of February. On the other hand, severe winter weather came back with very low temperatures and loads of snow until in the very south of the country. Purchase prices became much lower; not so much for roses, highly demanded for the International woman’s Day in many other countries, but for many other products, especially the mini gerberas. At the end of the month it could be very well noticed that spring was in the air. The offered assortment really started changing, especially towards the so-called spring or bulb flowers, like tulips and daffodils.

After the very difficult and poor cut flower market situation during the month of January, all did improve very much as from the beginning of February. Valentine’s cut flower demand, sales and results have been very good and satisfactory, reported traders. Supplied quantities have not been very big, but just enough. Purchase prices were extremely high this year, for both flowers originating from the Netherlands and overseas imported products. Especially roses and in particular the red varieties were expensive. It was mentioned in last month’s report that one shipment of roses from Ecuador arrived delayed and therefore some damage to the flowers caused quite a loss. However, finally most of the flowers could be sold for lower prices and only a minor part could not be sold at all. Luckily, no other quality problems showed up. During the post-Valentine week the market remained steady, and prices were more or less normal for this period of the year. However, during week number nine prices for flowers, especially for roses from the Netherlands, did increase again quite considerably, as a result of higher demand for the approaching International Woman’s Day, took place on 8 March. Mimosa, the Woman’s Day’s product number one seems to be plentifully available this year ann for normal prices.

After a very calm and even poorer cut flower market during the month of January, all really started to improve, as from the first week of February. During the second week of the month, the real Valentine week, demand and sales turned out very positive. However, not better when compared to previous Valentine’s Days of the past years. Some handicaps or disturbing factors this year were the schools’ winter holiday time and the cold weather, with minus temperatures during quite some time. On the other hand, consumers have been quite careful and even reluctant to buy flowers and plants, due to the moderate general economical situation nowadays. With the very high costs of living and energy, people must compromise all the time. During the post-Valentine weeks the market became very calm and slow, which is normal for this period of the year. It is waiting for springtime, say traders.

The improvement of the Valentine’s cut flower market did take place, but not as good as during the past few years. The major given reasons: the general economical situation, which is not at its best at the moment, the cold weather, and the very reluctant buyers, wholesalers and even consumers. Most of the flowers were too expensive this year, especially the roses. As traders say, roses were so expensive that consumers change and buy other things instead. Also the post Valentine’s sales were not good at all; partly due to the starting winter holidays, when people go skiing or to sunny and warm resorts in other parts of the world. During the last two weeks of February the market did not recover at all. To the contrary: it was very quiet and calm. Partly due the carnival celebrations, another reason not to buy flowers. With the high demand from certain countries in Eastern Europe and the very high prices for many products, thanks to the International Woman’s Day which is hardly celebrated in the country, situation became even more difficult. Consumers are just not prepared to pay such high prices in this period of the year. Also the weather has turned to real winter again. Low temperatures and loads of snow make transport and street sales extremely difficult.

Flower Auction’s notes In the January monthly report it was mentioned that Valentine’s prices were going to turn out very good; but at that very moment it was not clear yet how good. After all the flowers have been sold it can be stated that Valentine’s 2006 prices and results have broken all records. Even the turnovers were higher, realized with considerable smaller quantities this year, taking in account the pre and the actual Valentine’s week together. Those lower supplied quantities mainly from domestic production and only but very slightly also of import products. The explanation of the lower domestic supplied quantities was the very cold and dark weather throughout the month of January. Besides, growers/producers try to save on energy costs, which have become extremely expensive. Many growers cannot effort taking such high risks anymore, as long as the fuel cost is so high. Retroactively, when prices turned out so high, they realized they could have made some profits, even with these high energy costs. Well, it is always easy to conclude afterwards, but one has to plan the production in advance, which is not easy. In the actual Valentine’s week the total average price for all flowers together ended up at 31 Eurocents per stem, 3 cents higher than last year during the same week. Absolutely much higher prices have been achieved for roses. This year the total average price for all tea roses together was 62 cents (last year 48 cents). For Grand Prix it was euro 1.65 (last year 1.24) For all small and sweetheart roses the total average price was 20 cents (last year 14 cents). Other products with much higher prices these year were: anthurium, gerberas, helianthus, hypericum, all lilies, except the longiflorum types, protea, and wax flowers. Lower prices however for: anemones, chrysanthemums, carnations, spray carnations, leucadendron, lilies longiflorum, solidago and trachelium. Tulip prices have been steady and identical to last year. Remarkable this year was that the prices have stayed high until the very last day just before Valentine’s day. Even during the post Valentines week the general price level remained good. Only during week number 8 prices did slightly slow down, while during week 9 they have increased again, mainly due to the fact that demand for the approaching International Woman’s Day increased, especially for roses. Prices of several other products however decreased, especially for: gerbera, gypsophila, alstromeria, solidago, chrysanthemums and helianthus. Finally results obtained with the International woman’s Day have turned out very positive and satisfactory. The VBA Aalsmeer auction reported a turnover increase for cut flowers of 4 million euros compared to the same week of 2005, which was in increase of 14%, realized just by higher prices. Demand from and export to the following countries has been best: Russia, Poland, Lithuania and Croatia. However good results have also been realized in the Netherlands, Italy and France. The turnovers of all auctions in the Netherlands together during the month of February are published and show a very positive picture as well. A cut flower turnover increase of 6.3% was realized with higher prices for nearly all products.