OFA’s decision to auction ’today for tomorrow’ seems premature. Not yet the entire floriculture sector is ready for it, which ultimately lacked purchasing power. This is why OFA made the decision to stop auctioning temporarily as of the 1st of March 2023.
Extensive research was conducted on various options to improve purchasing power. During the survey, buyers indicated their preference for ’today for tomorrow’ and auctioning at the current auction times. They also indicated they were positive about the logistic process of delivering the flowers directly from the nursery.
However, the survey did make it very clear that hybrid auctioning (grower auctioning at different auctions) is not desirable and certainly does not contribute to the willingness to buy at OFA. This combined with the fact that a large part of the floriculture sector is not yet set up for ’today for tomorrow’, so that in many cases there is no need to buy on OFA, has made them decide that a temporary suspension of the auction is unavoidable.
Tuesday 28 February 2023 will be the last auction day for the time being. After which OFA will consider the future in which they can even better address possible bottlenecks arising in the floriculture sector. Possibilities to auction other product groups (other flower varieties and plants) will also be explored.
