“Where are all the roses?” That will probably be the most important question the coming days at the Agriflor trade show, which takes place in Quito every other year.
Whoever in the sector you speak with, none of them failed to notice that there’s been very little produce available. I’ve mentioned it before in this column, three months ago, and the low point hasn’t passed yet. I’ve rarely seen the situation this acute.
Purchase prices are skyrocketing. Cultivars that cost less than 20 cents last winter, are now being sold for three times that price. It’s an upside down world. But it’s a good development. Both for the grower and for the trade.
Wedding colours are the most popular. Demand for those is extremely high. In the past, the wedding season would be more or less over by September, but this year demand just continues to be high. It seems like “love is in the air”!
But why has the supply of flowers been so low for so long? Has production really gone down so much? Or has demand simply gone up? Many growers experienced problems with downy mildew during the wet spring season. Entire sections were completely cut back, with all the consequences this entailed.
During the subsequent cool and dry summer months, the extremely large temperature differences (>30°C) caused problems, leading to more wasted crops. Add to this that growers normally choose the summer months to replace old plantings, and there’s your low point! And perhaps the plants were just exhausted after the peak months earlier this year.
The expectation is that the low point will be over soon. The first rain has arrived and the growers’ daily product lists are slowly but surely getting longer again. Finally! The next challenge is around the corner though: the lack of cargo space on routes to Europe.
The freight rates have been going down for months, production has been low and there’s been a lack of southbound freight to South America and all of this has led to the cancellation of several scheduled flights. You’ll see: when the flowers are back, there won’t be any aircrafts. That’s our profession: never a dull moment!
Victor van Dijk
manager South America, FleuraMetz
