Colombia runs inaugural Virtual Chrysanthemum Week 2020

BOGOTA, Colombia: Last month marked Colombia’s inaugural Virtual Chrysanthemum Week (24-29 August 2020). Chrysanthemum Week is an annual event, hosted in Colombia’s epicentre of chrysanthemum production Antioquia by industry body Asocolflores. Nine of the country’s leading Chrysanthemum farms and PMA, the American trade association representing companies from every segment of the global produce and floral supply chain took part.

Colombia’s national week to celebrate the beauty, colours, shapes, textures, and innovative characteristics of one of Colombia’s ornamental staple crops and inspire action to promote Colombian chrysanthemums around the world.

With the support of trade body Procolombia, Colombia’s Chrysanthemum Week have offered supermarket procurers, importers, wholesalers and retail florists from home and abroad to chance to embark on virtual farm visits and spot tried-and-tested as well as many new varieties. And there were a lot of events including two webinars, resulting in more than 12,000 business interactions and the so-called virtual “Open House”, tours during which visitors from 20 countries learned first-hand about new breeding breakthroughs and their production cycle.

Commenting on the event’s first virtual edition Augusto Solano, President of the Colombian Association of Flower Exporters, Asocolflores says, “Anticipation was running high for the first virtual Chrysanthemum Week. We are delighted to have recorded a 43 per cent increase in the number of visitors from 1,400 in 2019 to 2,000 during the virtual event this year.”

Colombia is among the world’s leading Chrysanthemum producers with a production area expanding year on year, covering 716ha in 2012 and more than 919ha in 2018. Antioquia and Cundinamarca account for 75.4 per cent and 24.6 per cent of the country’s chrysanthemum production respectively.