Market update: lily production and trade in Japan

Estimating the number of cut lily growers in Japan is difficult as the country’s Ministry of Agriculture stopped counting in 2006 when there were still 4,410 producers. Commercial lily-cut flower production in Japan follows a downward trend, with a 35 per cent decrease between 2006-2021. 

In 2021, Japan boasted a cut lily production area of 659ha, on which 114,8 million stems were grown. FCI cross-checked the figures provided by Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture and wondered if they were 100 per cent accurate. Japanese lily professionals also have doubts, as the figures tend to believe that Japan’s lily growers realise only one crop cycle or less per year.

In 2021, the Tokyo-based flower auction OTA traded 5,7 million Orientals, 2,3 million LA’s, 1,8 million Longiflorums, and 90,000 Asiatics. At OTA, lilies rank fourth on a monetary basis and sixth volume-wise (number of stems).

Japan sources only small volumes of cut lilies from abroad. The 2022 data from Japanese customs reveal 90.5 per cent of imported cut lilies originate from Korea, Vietnam (7.1 per cent) and China (1.0 per cent). Figures are invoice weight-based.

At OTA, 1,723,958 Longiflorum stems changed hands in 2022, of which 98.8 per cent were Japanese-grown and 1.2 per cent were sourced from Korea.

In the same year, OTA traded 6,038,130 Oriental stems, of which 99.9 per cent of Japanese grown and minor volumes were imported from Korea, Colombia, Ecuador, and Sri Lanka.

In 2022, 2,397,380 LAs were sold under the OTA clocks, all grown in Japan.

Two decades ago, OTA imported many more Longiflorums from Korea, in particular from the island of Jeju. However, that number dropped sharply because of a decrease in demand for Longiflorum lilies and the growing purchasing power of the Korean people.

Japanese consumers seem somewhat reluctant to embrace the double-flowering Orientals. Perhaps because the Japanese consider lilies a pretty and natural flower, you can easily find them in the field.

Regarding imported lily bulbs, Dutch KAVB statistics show that Japan ranks 9th in volume regarding lily bulb export sales, purchasing 71 million lily bulbs from the Netherlands in 2022.

In the Japanese mountains, for example, you can quickly come across native Longiflorum and Auratum. Double-flowered lilies may be too sumptuous and too decorative for Japanese consumer preferences.

The Japanese and Chinese use lilies to decorate their homes or as gifts and eat bulbs of Lilium leichtlinii, lancifolium, auratum and speciosum. Lily bulbs are served as a side dish. They can be eaten deep-fried, simmered, or added to custards and sweet sauce.

Edible lily bulbs are a starchy vegetable only available in winter.