A flowery update from Latin America

To most rose exporters in Latin America, the weeks leading up to Valentine’s Day are the year’s busiest period. FCI sampled the sentiments in the trade before the most romantic of all holidays.

Planting, pruning, variety and colour selections all revolve around this single flower-giving holiday, frequently facing enormous challenges. Weather, logistics, exchange rates and other factors can hugely impact the final outcome. FloraCulture International contacted several key actors of the flower industry in this region to get an overall view of this important occasion for the flower industry this year.

To guide our discussion, we asked the following questions:
 Has the weather impacted supplies in roses? Will it impact distribution?
 What does Valentine’s Day represent in volume and value compared to your total yearly flower sales and production?
 What other factors are at stake?
 Valentine´s Day falls on a Wednesday. Is that positive or negative?
 How are prices evolving? Is there an oversupply or scarcity of products?
 How is demand evolving in the face of inflation and rising costs of living (in consumer markets)?
 Have you participated in any interesting campaigns aimed at Valentine’s Day?

Colombia

The rising costs of hand labour and supplies, together with economic uncertainty, are factors impacting flower exports.

We spoke to Elkin Farfán, NextGen/ Grower of the Year awardee at the last PROFLORA show in Bogotá, Colombia, and planning manager of Phytotech SAS, a family business producing fillers, summer flowers and foliage. Also, with Pablo Bazzani, General Manager of La Plazoleta and recipient of AIPH’s 2022 Young International Grower of the Year Award. La Plazoleta grows mainly Gypsophyla and Alstroemeria and received the Champion Grower award during the last PROFLORA show in 2023.

‘El Niño’ has definitely arrived with clear blue skies and high-temperature records across Colombia. There has not been a lot of frost, which can happen early in the year, but the extra dry weather has caused many crops – roses in particular – to bloom earlier than expected. This has forced exporters to send roses sooner to importers, especially in the USA, and this situation has had a negative impact on prices, not only for roses but other products as well.

At the other end of the value chain, it seems like severe freezing weather and snow storms have subsided both in the USA and Europe, and delays or interruptions in distribution are not expected for this year’s Valentine’s Day.

Rose exporters to the North American market often state that Valentine’s Day sales amount to around 30 per cent of total yearly sales. In the case of summer flowers and fillers, Valentine’s Day has not traditionally accounted for a significant amount of sales; however, Pablo mentions, “there is a trend for diversifying Valentine’s Day arrangements, making them more creative and going beyond red roses; consumers are embracing mixed flower arrangements and even using various colours.” This has raised the status of filler flowers, and in the case of Plazoleta Bazzanni, this means that Valentine’s Day now accounts for about 15 per cent of annual sales.

“A highly volatile exchange rate (from the Colombian peso to USD) and the rising costs of hand labour and supplies, together with economic uncertainty, are all factors impacting flower exports, whilst at the consumer end, inflation impacts demand. It is a challenging time for the industry, and many exporters are struggling to keep afloat. However, confidence in the resilient Colombian flower industry remains strong,” says Elkin Farfan.

Pablo and Elkin both agree that a mid-week holiday is always better. “When Valentine’s falls on the weekend, people have more time, so they think of other options for celebrating,” they say; plus, delivering flowers to the workplace during working hours is usually easier, less expensive and more efficient.

With respect to prices, despite a diversifying trend, red roses are still preferred and fetch the best prices. Other products behave normally and are even on a downward trend for some floral products. After the pandemic, demand remained high for a time, leading some growers to sustain an expansion trend that had started during Covid-19.

However, demand has fallen back to pre-pandemic times in most cases, leading to oversupply for some products – with consequently low prices – especially in the USA and European markets. This situation reinforces Colombians’ drive to look for alternate markets, particularly in Asia; a successful example is Korea, which is swiftly becoming a prime client for Colombian flowers.

In reference to campaigns, Plazoleta ‘dresses up’ for the occasion and promotes unique arrangements for Valentine’s Day. Phytotech has established a successful pre-sale scheme which helps maintain stable prices. ASOCOLFLORES (the Colombian Association of Flower Exporters) is undertaking a makeover of its trademark Colombia Land of Flowers, Pablo explains and is considering using a designation of origin or geographical indication scheme for Colombian flowers.

Pablo Bazzani sees a trend for diversifying Valentine’s Day arrangements, making them more creative and going beyond red roses.

Ecuador

We spoke to Gabriela Hidalgo from Sunrite Farms – top-quality rose exporters for over three decades – and Federico Santacruz from Everbloom, who has been in business since 2009.

Although neither thinks local weather has critically impacted rose production this year, Federico has seen orders from importers come in earlier.

However, he is referring to Europe and Russia mainly as the USA market is not their main goal, “as there is too much competition in that front”.

He believes these early orders are happening because importers want to ensure timely delivery in the light of uncertain weather and logistics, especially in the case of Russia. Neither of them considers that recent political unrest in Ecuador has negatively impacted the industry.

Gabriela coincides with Colombian rose exporters and states that, in her case, Valentine’s Day sales take up 30 per cent of yearly sales. To Federico, the American holiday is “an additional week of orders” within the year.

Agreeing with the Colombians, they both think a mid-week holiday is far better than a weekend one. “Consumption increases, especially in big cities; deliveries are easier as everyone is working, no additional staff required, and logistics are in favour overall; plus people are happy with smaller celebrations which often involve flowers,” says Gabriela.

Speaking about prices, Gabriela thinks there is indeed oversupply, and this has, at best, maintained prices (i.e. prevented increases) for standard roses; sweetheart roses are on a downward trend.

Federico is seeing too many roses of assorted colours (not red), possibly due to marketers wanting to escape tradition. They also confirm that demand has returned to pre-pandemic times and supply is plentiful in the US market, which hampers positive price evolution.

On campaigns, at this time of the year, Everbloom focuses on Women’s Day celebrations in Russia (8 March), a significant peak consumption occasion for them.

The Russian market is largely ‘back on its feet’, they say, although logistics remain complicated, which translates into early orders; European demand is also good overall.

Sunrite, on its part, is focusing on catering directly to its customers to keep them satisfied and thus ensure continued demand; capturing new customers is not currently its highest priority.

EXPOFLORES (the Ecuadorian Association of Flower Exporters) runs promotional campaigns for Valentine’s Day, and this year, it is extending that to domestic consumers, trying to stimulate flower consumption locally.

Freshly picked Ecuadorian roses ready for the big day.

Guatemala

To round up the conversation, we sought opinions from Mariela Toriello, Innovation Project Manager at TAK Corporation, a leading supplier of cut foliage located in Guatemala, who provided an interesting view.

The weather has not been an issue, as it has remained relatively stable this season. Still, the political and economic situation, inflation, and consequent increase in the cost of living currently faced by Americans and Europeans do impact demand, with consumers appearing to have taken a conservative approach to consumption.

These factors also impact their production costs, but despite that, they are making every effort to avoid increasing their prices and maintain a flowing demand. They are also facing some hurdles with respect to logistics, mainly due to reduced container availability, as sea freight is an important shipping option for them. She further mentions that Valentine’s Day sales are significantly important to the company, accounting for 20 per cent of yearly sales.

Mariela agrees with the other interviewees that Wednesday is an excellent day for Valentine’s Day to occur. Traditionally, having this holiday in the middle of the week has translated into higher demand. However, she also thinks that there is an oversupply of flowers and greens, which negatively impacts prices, which are showing a downward tendency; this may well be related to consumption and demand returning to pre-pandemic levels.

Closing her remarks, Mariela states that they have not launched promotion campaigns now or in the past, “but it is well possible we will start doing this as of next year”.

On the importers’ side

From the other end of the value chain, flower importer Distriflor’s manager Pablo Uribe, located in the UK, comments that up to now, Valentine’s Day sales have been sluggish compared to other years. Evidently, inflation, interest rates and the general economic situation are affecting consumption.

Due to low rainfall, high temperatures and high solar radiation, flowers have come in early, especially from Ecuador. He further mentions that this year brings additional challenges for the UK market in that Women’s Day (March 8) and Mother’s Day (March 10) are very close in time; also, complaints are heard once again about logistic hurdles associated with Brexit checks, some of which are becoming increasingly complex (especially when the product is shipped from The Netherlands).

The author is Marta Pizano. This article was first published in the February 2024 issue of FloraCulture International.