This update finds that the holiday outlook is still very strong for retail. Growers have had a hard time with the weather in the last weeks of production.
The big picture is that the Ecuadorean crop arrived a bit early and the Colombian crop arrived or is still arriving late. The El Nino affect is said to be part of the cause but for many reasons it appears that the actual production was not a large as planned.
Specific Color roses and solid boxes and of course Reds are in high demand. But there are a lot of, not so in demand, color roses on hand for open market sales.
Most importers are simply filling orders with the best products and once those are filled the real market pricing and demand will emerge.
Most importers I spoke with felt that the airlines did a good job, even thought the rates are very high.
Wholesalers are doing the same, but the days of speculative buying appear to be over. Flowers are too expensive to speculate too much so everyone is playing the waiting game. Tick, tick ,tick.
Every Valentine’s Day the logistics here in Miami get overwhelmed just by the shear volume of flowers and the results can be challenging however, I suggest that this year things here are going well, because so many flowers ended up being shipped by sea containers. This relatively new, distribution path has diverted, I estimate, about 20-30 % of the boxes that would normally go by air, thus reducing congestion.
The Thursday holiday should allow everyone to play their floral cards and, have a good one.
Good Luck
Williee Armellini
Editor; Flowersandcents.com
Leave a Comment